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50 BCE
head of a roman patrician
an example of ancient roman portraiture. mostly men that were in a position of power were seen in roman portraits, these works showed extreme details of the subject. roman portraits were used for a public display of power. -
1434
Arnolfini
this portrait was created by Jan Van Eyck. it is believed to depict an Italian merchant named Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife in their home, but was not intended as a record of their wedding. in the painting there are subtle ways that Van Eyck had inscribed his name and presence. one such way he did this was using the mirror, if you look closely there is another presence other than the two subjects which is believed to be the artist. -
The Nightwatch
created by Rembrandt van Rijn, this is a group portrait of a militia company. the original portrait was actually set in the middle of the day and had more to it. the reason there was a section taken away was because the original work did not seem centered on the main subjects of the portrait. -
self portrait with bandaged ear and pipe
painted by Vincent van Gogh in January of 1889. most of van Gogh's work was often over looked and ignored most of his life. it wasn't until after his death in 1890 that his work became popular and recognized. most of his works including the famous starry night were created during his last few years of his life. -
Marie-Therese Walter
created by Pablo Picasso, this was just one of many portraits Picasso created of his lovers through out his life. Picasso's work is mostly known for the use of basic shapes laid out in a way to create a picture of a person or object. throughout his life Picasso had many lovers that he would paint. he would paint them based their personality traits they demonstrated towards him. -
the two fridas
created by Frida Kahlo in 1939 after her divorce with artist Diego Rivera. this portrait much like her others references her dual heritage, and physical suffering to show her personal struggles in her life. many of her self portraits use human organs to show what she has gone through to tell about her physical pain she faced throughout her life. she uses her dual heritage to tell of her inner turmoil she faced throughout her life. -
Marilyn Diptych
created by Andy Warhol in 1962 not long after Marilyn Monroe died. he used a technique called silk-screening to take one image and copy it in a short amount of time. he used bright colors to re-sensitize us to a celebrity image by making it seem unfamiliar.
