Portrait Blog

A) Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
Self-portrait as an artist, 1888
Oil on canvas, 66 x 50 cm
Van Gogh Museum (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Van Gogh is obviously representing himself as an artist in this self-portrait it was a good idea because he actually was an artist. Van Gogh wanted to do portraits, but couldn’t afford models so self-portraits were an inexpensive alternative. Last semester, my drawing teacher said that self-portraits were the hardest to create because you are always the most critical on them. Van Gogh barely idolized this self-portrait, making himself look tired and putting his face in shadow.


B) Picasso, Pablo. Self-portrait (1907) National Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic.

This self-portrait of Picasso was drawn roughly in the cubist style. The objective of cubist portraiture is the show all angles of the body at once, which brought about flat, unnatural twisting of the body and face. This particular self portrait is actually more realistic then a true cubist painting, but it stills follows the style with by using color rather then shading to create a sense of depth, although a rather shallow depth.


C) Andy Warhol Early Self-Portrait, 1964
Acrylic, silver paint and silkscreen ink on canvas 50.8 x 41 cm
Froehlich Collection, Stuttgart
© 2004 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / ARS, New York

Warhol started off his art career as a commercial graphics artist. Creating this self-portrait using silkscreen, I think relates back to his commercial career. What is most striking to me is the minimalist look of Warhol’s Early Self Portrait. He only used four different colors and very few lines to create this piece. I also like how the line defines the inner shape of the objects, like the nose and hair, instead of the outline that you usually see.