Selfie Much?

The self-portrait offers a fascinating look into the private world of their creator, exposing how we see ourselves along with the many complicated ups and downs of becoming your own voyeur pushing through introspection. The art of trying to capture the essence of your image. For you, this may be a self-portrait, as a list of words you feel represents yourself. Maybe it is a collage of words and imagery, or maybe like Rembrandt, you pick up a brush and capture your image on the canvas.

Rembrandt Van Rijn was one of the great painters of the Dutch golden age. He had a prolific career spanning 40 years, featuring genres such as history painting, Biblical subjects, landscape, and portraiture. Throughout his career, the self-portrait was a constant topic of interest, and today, we have over 100 of Rembrandt's sketched, painted, and printed versions of his own face. He created these self-portraits for his personal use, making them more of an honest and intimate view of the artist. As you observe the self-portraits over his lifetime, consider the changes in mood, mark making, and the artist's gaze. What do you think he is saying through his self-representation? what do you want to say about yourself?

With those thoughts, I hope you feel inspired to create or maybe even take/create a selfie!

Rembrandt age 52, 1658