No other 17th-century artist played the self-portrait game as extravagantly as the Dutchman
. Spanning from his youth until just a year prior to his death, this unprecedented collection gathers the entirety of Rembrandt’s self-portraiture in
. The works are
Few devotees of the form can approach
RembrandtHarmensz. van Rijn’s radical contributions to the art of the self-portrait. Challenging the conventions enshrined by his predecessors, Rembrandt transformed self portraiture into a fully realized medium capable of communicating emotional depth rather than favorably immortalizing one’s likeness in the finest trappings of luxury.
With
more than 80 works spanning paintings, etchings, and drawings, the Dutchman’s lifelong practice of self-portraiture functions as a means of concretizing that which is fleeting, be it individual moments of development set against the inexorable passage of time, or the facial contortions of emotion that are gone, without a trace, as swiftly as they arrive. Across the four decades in which they were painted, one constant is particularly striking across media and styles—Rembrandt’s dedication to presenting himself from multiple perspectives, celebrating the multiplicity of the individual and
championing the unfiltered portrayal of emotional expression.
Apart from the thematic concerns present within Rembrandt’s suite of self-portraits, the works themselves are rich with technical innovation and experimentation. Glints of light bathe a shoulder while whole swathes of his face blend, obscured, into darkened backdrops. Carved through a wet patina of earth-toned paint with a rough reed pen, unruly curls seem to reflect the light cast down upon them, swirling with boisterous energy befitting the surprise so often plastered across Rembrandt’s face.
There is an unmistakable humanity present across the entirety of this oeuvre, each expressive brushstroke and obfuscated feature amounting to
an unflinchingly honest characterization of himself, in all his foibles, contrasting states of feeling, and stages of life.
Commemorating the
350th anniversary of the artist’s death, this
comprehensive monographrenders all of Rembrandt’s self-portraits in breathtaking XL resolution. From his first experimentations at age twenty-two to his final self-portrait painted a year before his death, this stunning collection stands
testament to a life committed to revolutionizing painterly practice both in content and form.
