Rembrandt van Rijn, Netherlands, 1606-1669
Self-portrait at the Age of 63 (1669)
This is one of the last works by Rembrandt, a half-length self-portrait showing an old man in a three-quarter profile looking at the viewer, with his hands clasped gently together. He is wearing a red jacket with a fur collar and matching cap, and the light shines onto his face highlighting the brow, nose and mouth.
A quite atmospheric but serene painting - he appears composed in a relaxed and reflective but sad mood, and the colour scheme of warm reds, gold and browns in darker and lighter tones reinforce the mood.
Rembrandt painted this portrait towards the end of a life which had many ups and downs – great success as a painter - but also bankruptcy and the death of almost everyone he loved, including that of his son the year before. Sadness is not therefore surprising, and this shows in his reflective mood, but there is also a sense of his inner strength and dignity.
He painted his own portrait more frequently than any other artist of the 17th century, and studies show that originally he painted himself with a brush and a maulstick. He was interested in the mystery of identity, and for his portraits he never dressed twice in the same costume or in quite the same pose, always seemingly trying to discover who he was. This is something very appealing to me that I would like to explore for my own practice.
Reference:
Photo https://www.magnoliabox.com/products/self-portrait-in-at-the-age-of-63-bal3739
Rosalind Ormiston, 2012 Hermes house The life and work of Rembrandt
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.79.html
Jonathan Jones Sat 28 Feb 2004
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2004/feb/28/art
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/rembrandt-self-portrait-at-the-age-of-63
Vincent Van Gogh Netherlands, 1853 – 1890
Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, 1889 cm© The Courtauld Gallery, London
This head and shoulders self-portrait is in three quarters view showing Van Gogh looking towards the viewer, with a bandage on his face and wearing a green winter coat and blue and black fur-lined winter cap. On the left he shows an easel with a white canvas, and on the right a Japanese poster near an open door
The portrait was done in oil on canvas, 60.5 x 50cm. primarily using vertical brush strokes, and the colour palette is mostly greens, yellows and blues. Though the colours are quite vivid he is wearing heavy clothing to keep warm and one can feel the negative energy of the picture - the bandaged face and humourless gaze suggest ill health, inner turmoil, melancholy and his fragile emotional state.
Van Gogh painted the portrait shortly after returning from hospital having mutilated his own ear, and his mental health at the time was clearly dire. In the period leading up to the incident his behaviour was erratic and he is said to have eaten paint, sipped turpentine and lived on coffee, bread and absinthe. At the time he painted the portrait he was living alone and suffering from depression, and his disturbed state of mind is expressed in this painting in so many ways.
There is an interesting discrepancy in the portrait in that the bandage is on the right side of his face whereas the wounded ear was actually his left ear, but the discrepancy is easily explained if he painted it while looking in a mirror.
Van Gogh painted over 30 self-portraits between 1886 and 1889, which places him among the most prolific of self-portraitists. Much more important than this fact however, is his incredible mark-making which, despite the bright and often light colours he used managed to evoke his disturbed mental state.
Reference:
https://courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/collection/impressionism-post-impressionism/vincent-van-gogh-self-portrait-with-bandaged-ear
https://www.biography.com/people/vincent-van-gogh-9515695
https://www.biography.com/people/vincent-van-gogh-9515695
Frida Khalo Mexico, 1907-1954
Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair, 1940
The work depicts a woman with very short hair and the familiar Khalo eyebrows, sitting in an upright chair wearing an oversized man’s suit and shoes. She looks defiantly at the viewer, and on the floor around her are scattered strands of long straight hair, apparently cut from her head. On the wall above her are the lyrics from a Mexican song - Look, if I loved you it was because of your hair - Now that you are without hair, I don't love you anymore.
Done in oil on 40 x 27.9 cm canvas, the energy of this self-portrait is very intense - the colour palette is sombre and her gaze is slightly menacing, the typical look of this artist in her self-portraits, done with the aid of mirrors. I find the hair on the floor quite spooky and surreal, as if she is portraying a dream, but I think they show her feelings at that point in her life.
Khalo did many self-portraits; most of them dressed in the traditional Mexican costume, but this one was done shortly after she divorced her unfaithful husband, the artist Diego Rivera, and in it she is wearing her husband’s suit and shoes. The inscription on the top makes a reference to her cut hair, to lost love, and the defiant message is clear.
Although I don’t much like the style of her drawings and paintings, as I’m more inclined towards realistic works, the creativity and imagination of her self-portraits are second to none, as is her capacity to communicate her feelings and what was in happening in her life at the time. Her self-portraits always make me look and keep looking, and make me think, trying to read the story she wants to tell.
Reference
https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78333?sov_referrer=art_term&art_term_id=93
David Hockney, British 1937
Ipad 2012
Hockney’s self-portrait depicts a man in his seventies, wearing glasses and with a cigarette in his mouth. He wears a red shirt and purple jacket, his piercing blue eyes look straight at the viewer over the top of his glasses, and his grey hair is made up of white, green and blue lines.
This is a very engaging self-portrait, his gaze is almost challenging, daring us to criticise the cigarette in his mouth, and despite the fact that it is of himself in later life the work has tremendous energy – partly but not entirely created by his colour palette of reds and purple. Hockney did many self-portraits, using different materials and techniques, and this one was done on an Ipad as one of a series of studies on the use of technology in art in 2012.
I really love it, more so for the fact that it was done on an iPad - something that I’ve been thinking of doing but wasn’t sure how well it would work. Now looking at this I will definitely experiment with the technique.
Reference:
http://www.davidhockney.com
https://www.creativeboom.com/inspiration/happy-birthday-david-hockney/