Who am I?
During art lessons we had to investigate the ideas and messages behind self-portraits. We had to make a few ones too, and write a decorated poem as well. During this essay, I hope I’ll get the answer to the question: ‘What was/is the use of self-portraits?’


1. Do these artistic methods—art and writing—help people to understand themselves better? Why is that important?
In my opionion, these artistic methods are really helping people to understand themselves better. That’s because when you use your distinctive skills and methods, you can discover yourself. You can determine what you like or dislike.
People may like many things which others don’t.

2. Might the answers to these questions be different at any given time?
I do really think that people answer these questions differently any time. All of your thoughts and interests change during your entire life. In your childhood you are much more playful and as you become older you get more interested in other things. So also your mind and feelings change.

3. What do you think Van Gogh is saying to the viewer in this self-portrait?
Van Gogh comes across as a really unpredictable, calm man. He was having some problems but he handled it really calmly. Van Gogh was a weird man. The painting also consists of depression, due to these dark colours.

4. What do these changes do to the self-portrait and to your ideas about Van Gogh at that point in his life?
Van Gogh has been muting several colours. This has caused the painting to become even more depressive. Van Gogh has also changed the sharpness and details. This may have been due to the fact that Van Gogh lost concentration and had to cope with fatigue.

5. In which do you think Van Gogh appears calmer?
I truly think this is because of the lighter background. It gives more peacefulness as well as calmness.

6. What would you say are two of the most distinctive qualities of a Van Gogh work?
The clearly use of brush strokes is one of the distinctive qualities of Van Gogh. Almost all of his paintings consist out of brush strokes. Every brush stroke has one colour.
The other distinctive quality of Van Gogh is his usage of complimentary colours. The background matches with the foreground.


7. Read these excerpts from Gauguin’s letters. Do they add to your understanding?
The excerpts from Gauguin’s letters do not enhance my thoughts that much. In Gauguin’s letters Gauguin states that one’s personality is expressed by his way of painting. My thoughts were already directed in that statement.


8. Do you find anything unusual about this picture of Gauguin? Click on the painting to see what happens when the colours change.
The picture of Gauguin shows two different faces. When you click on the painting the green part looks totally different. Now he looks happy and unconcerned, although without the adjustment he looked anxious and concerned

9. How do you see Judith Leyster from looking carefully at her self-portrait?
Judith Leyster can be distinguished with her skilled and creative qualities. She possesses a rather lot of self-confidence and likes making contact with people. She is smiling and happy. Remarkable is that Judith Leyster is a female painter. In those times, it was very unlikely to become famous as a woman.

10. Does Siqueiros tell you he is an artist in his self-portrait? Why did he reinvent himself in this work? Did he succeed?
He has a dinstinctive way of painting in which he has reinvented of whom he actually used to be. He has the ability to express this on paper which really makes him an artist.

11. Is Siquieros thinking about himself or something bigger in his statements? No, Siquieros is thinking about art in general, especially in Mexican art. He gives is opinion of in which he clearly concretizes his ideas of art. What should art be about, what should be its message?

12. How was it made? What about those colors? And why did he include four images of himself rather than one?
It was made by use of a certain computer program in which you can change images. He used two different colours which both express two different feelings. This makes it confusing. He add four images to be able to express four differences. All the hairstyles are different, and sometimes he is rocking and sometimes almost crying. In this way, he can show more emotions at once.

Artists paint self-portraits to discover themselves or to show what they feel. During the progress of painting yourself, you can easily determine which kind of colours/emotions you like and which not.

Jan Peter Simons
T3A

This is my collage. In it, you can see many things i like. Such as travelling, soccer, food, luxury, cars, gaming and music. Fireworks is in there too, because new-years eve is one of my most favorite nights.

This picture has to represent a strange boy. Unfortunately, (I bet you haven't even seen it yet) my ear has got a ring in it. At least, that is what it looks like. Anyway, a sweet boy, which you may not understand.

This is my cute picture. On the first point of view, it may look a bit strange, and that's not strange, because it does. I took a picture of my first years on Earth. As you may have noticed already, there are very much orange/sepia spots on my photo. I was looking for something to make my picture original and happy. It comes across as a unpreditical, imaginative boy, who experiences lots of fun.

Dear Lorenzo,

During art lessons, we had to a self-portrait. We were supposed to use Van Gogh’s style. This means that we had to express our feelings in the painting. We could do this, by using complementary colours. These are colours, that go together. For example, red and green, blue and orange, purple and yellow. On the right you see my pictures. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to finish them. My whole face is missing on the right picture.

Anyway, let’s get a closer look to the paintings. When you look to the left painting, you see a very dark background. Dark grey, red, and blue. It is supposed to tell something about my angry, sad mood. However, I am smiling. You would think that this is incorrect. And so it is. It’s because my skills are not that great. My nose is missing too.
You should note my sweater too. It has a neutral blue colour. If you look closely, you can find green in it too. My teacher advised me to do that. It came out, that it looked rather nice.
I only used very big brushes. I didn’t want to be very detailed, because I didn’t feel to it.
This picture tells me that I’m quite an emotional boy. I can be angry (sometimes), and sad simultaneously. This was the case, when my grandfather died. I was angry, and sad at the same time.

The other picture is very different. It doesn’t tell everything yet, because my face isn’t finished. The background is very bright. A sweet colour, you may say. Unfortunately, I failed painting a good colour of sweater. It should have been brighter. The background is very
inaccurate. No details. It makes that I’m just thinking about one thing.
I can’t really tell much more about it. It expresses a happy, and a confused mood.


I hope that I’ve told you enough about it. I didn’t really like it, although my teacher said that I did well.






Jan Peter Simons
T3A
November 30th

Op vrijdag 5 maar hebben wij, T2A, de cathedraal van Canterbury bezocht. Op het eerste gezicht lijkt deze niet zo groot omdat je alleen maar een paar plaatjes ziet en dat soort dingen, maar als je er voor staat is hij echt super groot. Het is omdat ik er al een keertje ben geweest, maar ik weet nog dat hij de eerste keer veel groter was dan ik had verwacht.
Er waren delen waar ik nog niet was geweest. Zoals de kloosters en die soort dingen. Het was wel leuk dat er een gits bij was want die kon heel het verhaal goed vertellen en dan kreeg je toch meer het idee waarvoor de cathedraal nu voor was.
Verder vond ik al de glas in lood ramen heel mooi.

Jan Peter