ART CLASS
T. Sarah Alamri
Grade 6
Self-Portrait
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What is a Self-Portrait?
A picture of a person
A picture of you
A picture of a cat or dog
A famous person
Examine these Self Portraits
• Why does the artist create a self portrait?
• What are the similarities or differences in
these self portraits? Explain:
– Similar
– Different
Some Examples of Self Portraits
Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent Van Gogh
Frida Kahlo
Pablo Picasso
Jean-Michel Basquait
• When artists make self-portraits, they may
be asking themselves a very basic but
difficult question: Who am I?
• When authors write journals, diaries,
letters, or autobiographies, they are also
trying to find or provide answers to: Who
am I?
• Do these artistic methods—art and
writing—help people to understand
themselves better? Why is that important?
• Why do artists make self-portraits?
• Since the Renaissance, artists have used selfportraits to answer the basic question, Who am
I? A mirror or a photograph can tell a person
what he or she looks like, but that outer image
rarely reflects the whole self. Self-portraiture
asks artists to think carefully about personality,
character, mood, and physical appearance in
order to make decisions about how to represent
themselves.
• For each self-portrait, the artist must ask: what
expression, posture, clothing, setting, colors,
texture, style, and material best conveys the real
me?
Self-portraits are a good way for
artists to practice representing
different expressions and moods.
Self-portraits live on. They preserve
memories and let the artist leave his
or her image behind—a way of
fulfilling the human quest for
immortality.
Who Am I
I Am From
• Begin to develop your idea for your self portrait by:
• Answering the questions
• Who Am I? is not a simple question. In fact, it leads to a
long list of related questions. Here are a few:
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What are the distinctive things that make me "me"?
How do I want people to see me?
How can I express my many different sides?
How can I reinvent myself for various purposes or times in my
life?
– How am I changing from day to day or year to year?
– Who do I want to become?
– Where am I from?
– What do I enjoy?
– Who is in my family?
• Write a poem/or story:
– Who Am I
– I Am From