Introduction
Artists have always been known to create etchings or paintings of subjects such as landscapes, animals, everyday situations, portraits of famous individuals, religious events, and famous landmarks, among others. Rembrandt van Rijn is one of these great artists. However, what makes him a great standout is how he created more than 90 self-portraits depicting himself in various ages and stages of his life. If authors write their autobiographies and come up with books, Rembrandt shared his life story through his self-portraits. For this paper, I will share what I think Rembrandt's thoughts and reasoning are for creating his self-portraits. What would he say?
Why I Made My Own Self-Portraits
I am Rembrandt, a famous painter and have always been regarded as the painter for popular artworks such as The Night Watch, The Feast of Belshazzar, The Mill, and various depictions of religious events (Liedtke, n.d.). So, why not portraits of myself? What I want is to share myself through my paintings and give people a glimpse of my life from when I was a young man starting with my career as a painter to the time I entered adulthood, got married, and became an old man. I simply want to share how I looked like from all major milestones in my life. These are all honest-to-goodness depictions of me in various stages of my life as I share my tribulations and sorrows through works of art.
Besides, the recent years have been more interested in my life more than my artworks. Thus, with this reintroduction of my self-portraits, I am hoping that people will come and appreciate my works again. My portraits are clear representations of who and what I am. Only they have to see to believe and understand.
My Artistic Choices in Composition
What have made me a great painter during the 16th century? It is the depth of my knowledge when it comes to art and how I deftly manage the paintbrush, colors, and lighting that gave me the edge when it came to my work. I was first introduced to etching and painting, and thus, I began using smooth strokes for all my works. They all came out flat. By the 1920s, I began experimenting with light and a variety of art applications, which resulted to artworks rich in details, such as my portrait in 1628 when I was 22. This continued on to the 1630s when I wanted to highlight the drama in my paintings. I made my subjects sit and face a certain way, and I would both emphasize and lighten the nose or the cheeks while I applied dark, sober colors on the other side. Other self-portraits I made of myself in 1628 are two opposite looks of my demeanor. At times I used lighting to highlight my entire face or draw attention to just half of my face. As I paint a serious look of myself, the effect on the face is stunningly mysterious.
Because of some personal tragedies I had in the succeeding years, my paintings somehow reflected these changes as well. From 1940s onwards, my paintings became less cheerful and more on the somber, brooding theme. I may have used lots of white paint to denote space, but the lines became richer and thicker. I began using darker tones in color, but highlighted frontal lighting more. Thus, despite the use of darker hues, the mood was sometimes without the gloomy and ominous look.
As I grew older through the years and onto the 1650s, the smooth strokes disappeared and I began to apply coarser, rougher strokes with the paint and colors I used. The colors became richer and the brushstrokes more pronounced. Touching the painting means feeling a roughness that was never in my early forms of artwork. Thus, appreciation of my artwork needs to be done from a certain distance, instead of the usual scrutiny. Nevertheless, the effects are still the same – a consistently high-quality, feast to the eyes painting.
What the Portraits Mean to Me
My self-portraits are expressions of myself. I do not intend to show a side of me that does not exist. If people see me smiling in my portraits, it is because it is a reflection of the stage of my life. If others see a serious and dismal expression, that is still an indication of my state of being. In all my artworks, honesty is what is evident in how I portray myself. I may be dressed up to the nines in some of my portraits, in costume, laughing in some, brooding in a couple others. Those images are the story of my life. Until the last painting I made of myself, I told a story about "an old man communicating with himself while he painted" (Osmond, 2000).
As I was painting, I felt like I was seeing myself from the outside looking in. The paintings are mirror images of me, and yet, as I look at the paintings, I cannot help but be drawn to the subject's expression and look in the eyes. Could I be seeing and painting someone that I have conjured up in my mind as me? Or is it really a correct perception of myself? In my belief about the truthfulness and honesty in all works of art, I am more inclined to believe the latter.
On Other Subjects
Apart from my more than 90 self-portraits, I also painted human situations, biblical events, and portraits of my family and friends. Why them? Because all these themes tell a story and apart from the written story, my paintings can clearly depict the emotions and actual events through colors, texture, use of space and lighting, and brushstrokes. In simple terms, I do not need words to tell the story. My artwork is the story.
References
Liedtke, W. (n.d.). Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669): Paintings. Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/rmbt/hd_rmbt.htm
Osmond, S.F. (2000). Rembrandt's Self-Portraits. Retrieved from http://www.rembrandtpainting.net/rembrandt_self_portraits.htm#about
