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Of all the fine-art superstars, only one painted, drew, and etched nearly 100 self-portraits -- Rembrandt van Rijn, the Dutch Baroque artist. Was he an obsessed narcissist or just a perfectionist refining his craft? Why he was so prolific at whipping up pictures of himself will remain a mystery, but that won't stop art historians from glamorizing his eccentric achievement. Painting in a "dark manner" called tenebrism and using printmaking techniques known as burnt plate oil, Rembrandt emerges with a stoic stare. He gradually ages from his 20s to the year of his death in 1669. Like many artistic geniuses, the life of tragedy boosts fame, and he had his share of both. Although he didn't slice off an ear or kill himself driving drunk, he reputedly dove into poverty and also witnessed loved ones die from the plague. We crave his reactions to these events in each portrait, but creepy lighting and kooky outfits sometimes steal the show. Don't take our word for it; judge Rembrandt's work for yourself in commemoration of his 400th birthday.
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Directory categories:
Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch Painting Masters, Baroque Art Movement |
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Archived under: Artists, Arts, History |
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Comments
In the movie Smoke (1995), various characters pass through the doors of a cigar shop in Brooklyn, New York. The good-hearted man who runs the shop has an off-beat hobby -- every day at eight o'clock in the morning he takes a photograph of his store from the same street corner.
Posted by: navoaks at July 14, 2006 12:57 AM
Wow! Visiting all those sites and getting to know about Rembrandt was fun, thank you Arnold. I like what Manuel Gasser wrote, "Over the years, Rembrandt's self-portraits increasingly became a means for gaining self-knowledge, and in the end took the form of an interior dialogue: a lonely old man communicating with himself while he painted."
Posted by: navoaks at July 14, 2006 1:07 AM
I wonder what he would have done with a digital camera.
Posted by: navoaks at July 14, 2006 5:24 AM
Perfectionism is the mirror-image of narcissism - think about how important appearances are to these people. How preoccupying it can be - it is the new god - self-worship. Everything (one's kids, one's life) has to be perfect - or at least have the APPEARANCE of being perfect. It is a form of self-enslavement that causes deep unhappiness and discontent.
Posted by: philtlucre at July 15, 2006 10:49 AM
Rembrandt was a great painter. You, Mr Chao, are apparently a somewhat less than great user of the English language ("creepy lighting and kooky outfits sometimes steal the show", to quote but one example). Still, I suppose your apparent love of Rembrandt may to sone extent excuse your literary shortcomings.
P.S The past rense of "dive" is "dived". "Dove" is a kind of bird.
Posted by: brianallgar at July 15, 2006 10:54 AM
Could all his self portraits be as simple as the fact that his face was just readily available and he didn't have to flag someone down to sit for hours so that he could paint?? Just a thought.
Posted by: marlocib at July 15, 2006 10:57 AM
OK, before the vultures circle down, I admit that even Homer nods. I mistyped "some" as "sone".
Posted by: brianallgar at July 15, 2006 11:01 AM
Oh lord, why can't they take things for what they ARE?
Listen, like Vermeer, his Girl With the Pearl Earring....it's;#1,his daughter, #2, she is bored out of her MIND...I'm sure she sat there whining as ANY teen daughter would do.
Rembrandt painted himself when he was bored and couldn't think of anything ELSE to do...no ego, nothing these people 'think' he was doing. He's a painter, he painted whatever he wanted to, and if you run out of ideas, paint yourself.
I wish they would stop trying to put 'meaning' to things they have no idea about.
Why did Michelangelo paint the Sistene Chapel? Because HE COULD!
Posted by: mousiez at July 15, 2006 11:02 AM
Such comments as,"creepy lighting and kooky outfits sometimes steal the show" in your appraisal of Rembrandt's work unfortunately reduces your introduction to the comic book level.
Rembrandt painted in Holland during the 17th Century. Specifically in Amsterdam which was one of the great trading centers of Europe due to the Dutch trading fleet. Art from all over Europe passed through Amsterdam and Rembrandt was exposed to it all, hence the shadowy lighting initiated by the Italian painter Caravaggio, and to the artifacts of all different cultures, hence the cooky costumes. We'd have the same response to intergalectic visitors (remember the bar scene in Star Wars?)today.
Moreso than being an obsessed narcissist he was an observer of the human soul and his own was the handiest to observe. Lucky for us.
Posted by: sirjoshua462000 at July 15, 2006 11:07 AM
Who else was he going to get to sit that long for him?
Posted by: swimmomkt at July 15, 2006 11:12 AM
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