Who am I?




Job Boone
T3A
22-04-2011









Introduction

In art class we had to make an essay about self-portraits and the question: Who am I?
We had to look at several painters who had made a self portrait and had to answer questions about them

Questions


1. Do these artistic methods—art and writing—help people to understand themselves better? Why is that important?
They want to answer the basic question: who am I?
They have to think carefully about their personality, mood and character etc.
Every time the artist must think in which mood or expression etc. He wants to show himself.

2. Might the answers to these questions be different at any given time?
In your life time you can change personality or from character and it also depends on the mood you are in when you draw a self-portrait.
For example when you are very sad, it is most likely that you draw yourself also very sad but when you a month later look at your self-portrait while you are in a very happy mood you think: was I really sad in that period of time?

3. What do you think Van Gogh is saying to the viewer in this self-portrait?
His face is not a very happy face but the colours he used are not very sad else he had used darker colours. I think he wants to show a feeling of calmness and not sadness.

4. What do these changes do to the self-portrait and to your ideas about Van Gogh at that point in his life?
First he expresses a feeling of calmness and in this painting he shows a feeling of sadness and depression. In this painting Van Gogh looks very depressed and it looks if he is in an emotional crisis.
5. In which do you think Van Gogh appears calmer?
Van Gogh looks calmer due to the light blue background and his light blue jacket.
In this painting he uses brighter colours.

6. What would you say are two of the most distinctive qualities of a Van Gogh work?
The first distinctive quality is the use of complementary colours. The lighter and brighter foreground and the much darker background.
The second distinctive quality are the brushstrokes, Van Gogh uses a lot of cross hatching.

7. Read these excerpts from Gauguin’s letters. Do they add to your understanding?
You can clearly see in the extract what Gauguin thought was important in painting.

8. Do you find anything unusual about this picture of Gauguin? Click on the painting to see what happens when the colours change.
The painting of Gauguin has two faces.
The face without the green adjustment looks very happy and relaxed but when you click on the painting you add a green adjustment and Gauguin looks very sad and worried.

9. How do you see Judith Leyster from looking carefully at her self-portrait?
She looks very happy and proud. She is also very skill full because when you look at the painting it is of high quality. She doesn’t look shy at all. I think she is also a bit musical because she has drawn a violin player.

Conclusion

I have answered the questions and now I know why artists paint self-portraits.
I still need to answer the question: Why do artists make self-portraits?
They want to answer the basic question: who am I?
They have to think carefully about their personality, mood and character etc.
Every time the artist must think in which mood or expression etc. He/she wants to show himself.
Artists make self portraits to express their mood, expression and character.