Rembrandt and Kahlo

Paper Summary:

This paper compares Rembrandt's 1659 self-portrait, "Self Portrait" to Frida Kahlo's 1940 self-portraint, "Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird". The paper notes that Rembrandt's painting is characteristic of the unadorned, spare style of portraiture that defined this Dutch artist's realistic style, whereas Kahlo's painting is a surrealist flight of fancy that aims to create a psychic, rather than a literal self-portrait. The paper compares the two portraits with respect to iconography, symbolism, composition, subject matter, complexity, realism and shading.

From the Paper:

"The two paintings may be self-portraits, but ultimately their iconography and subject matter is quite different. Rembrandt's expression, although difficult to interpret, is the showcase of the painting, and there is little else to focus on other than the artist, his face, and his craftsman's hands. Kahlo likewise looks somewhat distracted, as if in a state of psychic pain or remembrance, but her unrelenting, unembarrassed, unyielding gaze and fierce determination is not simply reflected in the face that forms the center of Rembrandt's self-portrait, rather her expression fans out to every leaf and animal in her creation, all of which are pregnant with meaning."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Martin, F. David & Lee A. Jacobus. The Humanities through the Arts. 7th Edition. Pp. 93-95

More papers on Rembrandt and Kahlo:

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• Comparison Essay # 31230 : "The Self-Portraits of Rembrandt and Bernini"
• Comparison Essay # 40455 : "Rembrandt and Louis XIV: My Two Companions in 1660"

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