Visions of the Self(ie): Rembrandt and Now
Last week, just a day before it closed, I caught the wonderful Gagosian exhibition: Visions of the Self: Rembrandt and Now. A collaboration with English Heritage, Rembrandt could be SEEN rubbing shoulders with the likes of Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Pablo Picasso, Robert Mapplethorpe, Dora Maar, Roy Lichtenstein, Jeff Koons, Howard Hodgkin, Damien Hirst and Francis Bacon.
Rembrandt Self Portrait with Two Circles c1665, oil on canvas.
Self Portrait with Two Circles c.1665 was painted when Rembrandt was about 60 years old and is considered one of his late masterpieces. He painted himself as an artist in his studio and the circles mentioned in the title, and seen in the background of the painting, have provided experts with much to think about in terms of their significance or meaning. The painting can normally be SEEN at Kenwood House, a stately home in Hampstead, North London.
For this recent exhibition it was loaned to the Gagosian, a commercial gallery in Mayfair, in return for the restoration of the portrait’s 18th-century frame (expected to cost about £30,000). This move is one of the first of its kind and although it offers a way to promote Kenwood and its upcoming show marking the 350th anniversary of Rembrandt’s death, it has been seen by some as going against the artist’s wishes. The work was bequeathed to the nation and its rightful home is Kenwood. I would argue that moving the painting was an exciting opportunity to look anew at the portrait. If the cost of the frame’s restoration is also covered in the process, so much the better.
Roy Lichtenstein Self-Portrait II 1976, oil and magna on canvas.
Howard Hodgkin Portrait of the Artist 1984-1987, oil on wood.
As I enter, I head straight to Rembrandt. He gives Warhol a knowing glance across the gallery, Lichtenstein is cool and sleek, Hodgkin a mass of expressive colour, Mapplethorpe and Maar’s eyes don’t leave me and I’m intrigued and repulsed by the dead man’s head next to Hirst. Seeing a work in a new context allows the person looking at it to stop and rethink what he or she might already feel about it. It also encourages new and different interpretations for the work itself and it’s temporary home. This is definitely the case here. The 17th-century master does not seem out of place with his modern and contemporary counterparts. Rembrandt and his painting ask us to rethink self-portraiture amongst new masters.
Robert Mapplethorpe Self Portrait 1988, gelatin silver print.
Dora Maar Portrait de Femme (autoportrait) 1939, oil on plywood.
Damien Hirst With Dead Head 1991, photographic print on aluminium.
Public and private, like the institutions involved in this exhibition, portraits are about both the public and the private person represented. The show sees artists interpreting and representing themselves and in turn, visitors interpret the portraits in front of them. My visit coincided with the news that an anonymous buyer had paid the highest-ever amount for a work by a living artist (over $91 million): the work was Koons’ Rabbit. At the Gagosian, in front of Gazing Ball (Rembrandt Self-Portrait Wearing a Hat), the blue glass gazing ball reflected me whilst I looked at a Koons hand-made replica of a Rembrandt self-portrait. A complex set of relationships, the experience is mine and it is about me looking. My reflection is me reflecting on art.
Jeff Koons Gazing Ball (Rembrandt Self-Portrait Wearing a Hat) 2015, oil on canvas, glass and aluminium.
I am always excited about what people bring to my London’s Art Seen Tours. Like this exhibition, the self in a self portrait isn’t just the artist or sitter, it is also the self who is looking at the artwork. Visions of the self include oneself or ourself and these can be unpredictable, brilliant and very rewarding.