Self-Portrait: The Artist as Subject, From Durer to Cindy Sherman

In 1548, a 20-year-old woman in Antwerp painted herself at her easel. She holds a brush in one hand and a mahl stick in the other. A palette sits on the ledge in front of her. She looks directly at the viewer with an expression that is calm, professional, and slightly defiant. The painting is small, about 32 by 25 centimeters, and it is signed and dated: "Catharina van Hemessen, me fecit, 1548." It is the earliest known self-portrait by a female artist, and the first surviving oil painting that depicts an artist of any gender at work, with easel, brushes, palette, and mahl stick visible. In 2026, the Kunstmuseum Basel, which holds the painting, announced that it will be the centerpiece of the first-ever exhibition on Van Hemessen, opening at the Snijders and Rockox House in Antwerp in October 2026 and traveling to the National Gallery in London in March 2027. Read the full story at The Art Newspaper.

A self-portrait is a representation of the artist made by the artist. The artist is simultaneously the subject and the maker, the observer and the observed. This doubling gives the self-portrait a peculiar intensity. Unlike a portrait commissioned by a sitter, where the artist must negotiate with the subject's vanity and expectations, the self-portrait is a conversation with oneself. The artist decides what to reveal, what to hide, and how to present their own face and body to the world. Self-portraits can be exercises in self-fashioning, acts of self-examination, political statements, or simply practical solutions to the problem of finding a free model.

This entry covers what a self-portrait is, how the genre developed from the Renaissance to the present, which artists used it most powerfully, and what self-portraiture reveals about the changing status of the artist across centuries.

What Is a Self-Portrait?

A self-portrait is a portrait in which the artist is both the maker and the sitter. The artist typically works from a mirror, though photographs and other reference materials have been used since the 19th century. The self-portrait can take many forms: a straightforward likeness, an allegorical self-image, a self-portrait inserted into a larger narrative scene, or a photographic or performative self-representation.

The self-portrait differs from a commissioned portrait in several ways. The artist has unlimited time and access to the subject. There is no need to flatter a paying client. The artist can experiment, take risks, and return to the subject over years or decades. This is why self-portraits often reveal more about an artist's technique, psychological state, and self-conception than their commissioned portraits do. Rembrandt painted, drew, and etched himself more than 90 times between 1628 and 1669, creating an autobiographical record of aging that has no equivalent in art history.

The Uffizi Galleries in Florence hold the largest, oldest, and most important collection of self-portraits in the world: over 2,000 paintings, sculptures, and drawings spanning 600 years, from Taddeo Gaddi in the 14th century to Ai Weiwei in the 21st. The collection, started by Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici in the 17th century, is now permanently displayed in 12 rooms showing 255 works. Read more at the Uffizi Galleries.

Origins and History

Renaissance: The Artist Emerges as Subject

The self-portrait as an independent artwork emerged during the Renaissance, when artists began to claim a higher social status. In the medieval period, artists were considered craftsmen, and their self-image was rarely preserved. The Renaissance elevated the artist to an intellectual figure, and the self-portrait became a way to assert that status.

Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) was the first artist to make the self-portrait a major part of his practice. His Self-Portrait at 22 (1493), painted in silverpoint and gouache, shows him holding a sprig of sea holly, a symbol of fidelity. His Self-Portrait in a Fur-Collared Robe (1500) is the most famous early self-portrait: Durer painted himself in a frontal pose traditionally reserved for images of Christ, with his hand raised in a gesture that echoes blessings in religious icons. The painting is not arrogance. It is a declaration that the artist is a creator in the image of God, and that the self-portrait is a serious artistic subject on par with religious painting.

Catharina van Hemessen (1528-after 1565) painted her self-portrait in 1548, establishing two firsts: the first self-portrait by a woman, and the first painting of an artist at work. Sofonisba Anguissola (1532-1625) followed eight years later with a similar composition, now at the Castle Museum in Lancut, Poland. The 2025 exhibition "The Portrait of the Artist: In the Mirror of Narcissus" at the San Domenico Civic Museum in Forli traced the evolution of the artist's self-awareness from the Renaissance to the 20th century, with works by Bellini, Tintoretto, Lavinia Fontana, Anguissola, Rembrandt, Titian, and others. Read more at Finestre Sull'Arte.

Baroque: Rembrandt and the Self as Lifelong Subject

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) is the artist most identified with the self-portrait. He painted, drew, and etched himself throughout his career, from his early twenties in Leiden to his final year in Amsterdam. The progression is extraordinary. Self-Portrait in a Cap, Laughing (circa 1628) shows a young man experimenting with expression. Self-Portrait with a Broad Nose (circa 1628) is a small etching where the face emerges from darkness with startling psychological presence. Self-Portrait at the Age of 34 (1640), in the National Gallery in London, shows him dressed in Renaissance costume, leaning on a parapet in a pose borrowed from Titian and Raphael. Self-Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar (1659), in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, shows him in his fifties, his face heavy with the accumulated weight of bankruptcy, the death of his partner, and declining reputation. The final Self-Portrait (1669), in the Mauritshuis, was painted in the year of his death. The face is lined, the eyes are tired, and the paint is applied with a freedom that borders on abstraction.

Rembrandt's self-portraits are not vanity. They are a sustained act of self-examination, comparable to Montaigne's essays or Augustine's Confessions. He used his own face to study emotion, light, and the physical effects of aging. The Uffizi's self-portrait collection includes a Rembrandt that was restored in 2022 thanks to a donation by the American donor Diana Bell.

19th Century: Van Gogh and the Self-Portrait as Practice

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) produced more than 40 self-portraits between 1886 and 1889, most of them during his time in Paris and Arles. Van Gogh could not afford to hire models, so he painted himself. The self-portraits are not merely practical. They are experiments in color, brushwork, and psychological intensity. Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889), painted after he cut off part of his left ear, shows him with a bandage wrapped around his head, his eyes conveying a mixture of exhaustion and alertness. Self-Portrait Dedicated to Paul Gauguin (1888) shows him with a shaved head and a greenish background, staring at the viewer with an intensity that borders on confrontation. The Courtauld Gallery in London holds this painting. Read more about Van Gogh's practice in our entry on Post-Impressionism.

20th Century: Self-Portraiture as Identity and Performance

In the 20th century, the self-portrait expanded beyond painting. Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) made the self-portrait the central mode of her practice. She painted herself more than 50 times, always facing the viewer, always with the same direct, unflinching gaze. The Two Fridas (1939) shows two versions of herself sitting side by side, one in a European dress, one in a Tehuana dress, their exposed hearts connected by a vein. The painting was made during her divorce from Diego Rivera and is a double self-portrait about divided identity.

Cindy Sherman (born 1954) transformed self-portraiture by using photography to stage fictional selves. Her Untitled Film Stills (1977-1980) are 69 black-and-white photographs in which Sherman poses as imaginary female characters from B-movies and film noir. She is the subject, the photographer, the stylist, and the director. The series is not a self-portrait in the traditional sense. Sherman is not showing us herself. She is showing us how images of women are constructed, and she uses her own body as the raw material for that critique. The Museum of Modern Art acquired the complete series in 1995. Read more at MoMA.

Key Artists and Works

Albrecht Durer (1471-1528)

Durer's Self-Portrait in a Fur-Collared Robe (1500) is in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. The frontal pose, the hand gesture, and the intense eye contact create an image that deliberately evokes icons of Christ. Durer inscribed the painting: "I, Albrecht Durer of Nuremberg, painted myself in everlasting colors at 28 years." The claim to "everlasting colors" is itself a statement about the self-portrait as a bid for immortality.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)

Rembrandt's self-portraits span his entire career and are held in major museums worldwide. The Rijksmuseum, the National Gallery in London, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Louvre, and the Mauritshuis each hold significant examples. The 2026 exhibition "Artists' Faces" at the Petit Palais in Paris includes Courbet's Self-Portrait with a Black Dog alongside contemporary works by Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin, and Sophie Calle, tracing the self-portrait from the 19th century to the present. Read more at Petit Palais.

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Van Gogh's self-portraits are held in the Musee d'Orsay, the Courtauld Gallery, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889) at the Courtauld is the most famous, but the Self-Portrait (1889) at the Musee d'Orsay, with its swirling blue and green background, shows the full force of his brushwork.

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)

Kahlo's Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (1940) shows her wearing a necklace of thorns that draws blood, with a dead hummingbird hanging from it. The painting combines self-portraiture with symbolic imagery drawn from Mexican folk art and Catholic iconography. It is in the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

Cindy Sherman (born 1954)

Sherman's Untitled Film Stills (1977-1980) are held in full at MoMA. Her later series, including the History Portraits (1989-1990) and the Society Portraits (2008), continue to use her own body in costume and makeup to critique representations of women, aging, and class. The 2026 exhibition "Self-Portraits from the Collection 1928-2021" at MASI Lugano includes Sherman alongside Marina Abramovic, Gina Pane, Ilse Bing, and Florence Henri, showing how self-portraiture has expanded into performance and photography. Read more at MASI Lugano.

How to Look at a Self-Portrait

When you look at a self-portrait, the first thing to notice is the eyes. Is the artist looking at you, or at themselves? In a mirror self-portrait, the artist is looking at their own reflection, which means the eyes in the painting are looking back at the viewer. This creates a peculiar confrontation. You are looking at someone who was looking at themselves, and they are now looking at you.

Second, notice what the artist includes about their working conditions. Van Hemessen included her easel and brushes. Rembrandt often included his painting tools in early self-portraits but dropped them later, presenting himself as a gentleman rather than a craftsman. Van Gogh's self-portraits show his working clothes and his studio, which was usually a rented room. These details tell you how the artist saw their own social position.

Third, look for changes over time. If an artist painted multiple self-portraits across their career, compare them. Rembrandt's progression from a laughing young man to an exhausted old man is the most dramatic example, but Kahlo's self-portraits also change: the early ones show a confident young woman, the later ones show the physical toll of surgeries, miscarriages, and chronic pain.

Related Terms

The self-portrait is a subcategory of portraiture, which covers the broader history of painted likenesses. It relates to Surrealism through Kahlo's symbolic self-images, and to photography through Sherman's staged self-portraits. The self-portrait also connects to performance art, where artists like Abramovic and Gina Pane used their own bodies as both subject and medium. For broader context on how portraiture evolved, read our blog post on the evolution of portraiture.

See Self-Portraits in Person

The best place to see self-portraits in one location is the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, where 255 self-portraits spanning 600 years are permanently displayed in 12 rooms. The collection includes works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Velazquez, Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun, and contemporary artists including Antony Gormley, Michelangelo Pistoletto, and Ai Weiwei.

In 2026, the Petit Palais in Paris presents "Artists' Faces," an exhibition of some 100 artist portraits and self-portraits from the museum's collection, including Courbet's Self-Portrait with a Black Dog alongside works by Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin, and Sophie Calle. The MASI Lugano exhibition "Self-Portraits from the Collection 1928-2021" runs through September 20, 2026. For Rembrandt specifically, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the National Gallery in London hold the most important collections. For the contemporary self-portrait, MoMA's holding of Sherman's Untitled Film Stills is essential.

If you want to understand the self-portrait, start at the Uffizi, where you can walk through 600 years of artists looking at themselves. Then go to the Rijksmuseum for Rembrandt, the Van Gogh Museum for Van Gogh, and MoMA for Sherman. You will see how the self-portrait evolved from a Renaissance assertion of artistic status to a modern tool for examining identity, gender, and the construction of the self. For more, read our entries on portraiture and photography, or explore our guide to how to read a painting.