“Every child is an artist; the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.”
Pablo Picasso
Self-Portrait Paintings (c.1400 BCE – present) [*]
“Self-portraiture is a long established form of portrait art, dating from Ancient Egypt. Since then, many of the Old Masters as well as modern artists have reproduced their own image in a variety of media, for a variety of artistic, commercial and self-promotional motives. Indeed, the history of art has witnessed several examples of artists executing repetitive self-portraits, sometimes for emotional reasons.
Recent examples of this compulsive self-portrait painting include works by the Post-Impressionist Vincent Van Gogh (1853-90), the German Expressionist draughtsman and short-lived prodigy Egon Schiele (1890-1918), and the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907-54).
NOTE: The two most expensive self-portraits sold at auction are: Portrait of the Artist Without a Beard (1889) by Van Gogh, sold at Christie’s in 1998 for $71.5 million; and Six Self Portraits (1986) by Andy Warhol, sold at Sotheby’s New York in 2014 for $26.7 million. See also Andy Warhol’s Pop Art of the 60s.”
*Quotation above is taken directly from the website cited and is the property of that source. It is meant to inform the reader and to give credit where it is due.
Below is a gallery of notable self portraits along with quotations from each artist.
Artists Included in the Gallery:
Albrecht Durer, Artemisia Gentileschi, Claude Monet, Diego Velazquez, Eduoard Manet, Edvard Munch, Frida Kahlo, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jan van Eyck, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Leonardo da Vinci, Lucian Freud, Mary Cassat, Michaelangelo, Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne, Paul Gaugin, Raphael, Rembrandt, Vincent van Gogh and Yayoi Kusama.
