It has been said that art imitates life. Certainly, this seems to be the case in many artistic works throughout history, and will most likely continue to be the case in the work of generations of artists yet to come. This is reflected most, perhaps in the self-portraits of artists, as the very notion of self-portraiture implies some amount of introspection and personal experience. This is why many such self-portraits are said to beùat least in partùautobiographical in nature.
Here, we will examine the self-portraits of three artists considered to be masters at their craft: Cezanne, Rembrandt, and Gauguin. In these self-portraits lies, not only glimpses into the lives of these men, but helps us understand their place in history, even centuries after the artists themselves are gone.
Rembrandt van Rijn was born in Leyden in 1606 as the son of a miller. His family was fairly well-off, and Rembrandt is thought to have enjoyed a pleasant childhood. He attended university, and then undertook a three-year apprenticeship to a local painter, which gave him his technical background. When he was twenty-five, he moved to Amsterdam where he achieved success as a painter and married the wealthy Saskia van Uylenburgh who brought him position and money.
His self-portrait, completed in 1640, was painted at the height of his artistic successes in Europe. The pose resembles a self-portrait done by Durer in 1498. Rembrant leans on a windowsill in the portrait, his body is turned more towards the viewer and the entire arm rests on the sill. He paints his face in short, regular brush strokes, but it seems to be in the hair where Rembrandt applies the most detail. Each hair of his moustache is rendered separately and his hair is shorter than it had been in previous portraits, thus giving him a more dignified, professional adult appearance. He is dressed what looks like the robes of an elegant master painter from a previous generation, but his ex...