Learn about the characters in paintings by Oskar Kokoschka, Albrecht Dürer, and Francisco Goya, and where they can be viewed today
Which artist depicted himself –
1. As a “degenerate artist”?
Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980) was an Austrian artist and poet best known for his German Expressionistic portraits and landscapes. He served in World War I where he was determined by doctors to be mentally unstable. Deemed a “degenerate” and persecuted by the Nazis, Kokoschka fled Austria in 1934. Interestingly, the Nazis declared virtually all modern art to be degenerate, banned it, made fun of it, and tried to inflame the public against it. In 1937 Kokoschka’s work simultaneously was honored at a retrospective at the Osterreiches Museum für Kunst und Industrie in Austria, and was derided at the Degenerate Art Exhibition in Munich and then removed from German museums. Believing that he deserved recognition as the greatest-ever 20th-century artist, Kokoschka was bitter in his later years as he found himself marginalized as a curious footnote to art history. One must assume he created his “Self-Portrait as a Degenerate Artist” as wry commentary on the times.
You can see this painting today at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh.
2. As Christ as the “Man of Sorrows”?
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) is considered the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance. Dürer was an innovator: for example, he was the first artist known to create a self-portrait (of which he created many). One of them, done in 1522, depicts Christ and is known as “The Man of Sorrows.” The drawing was done toward the end of his life and is generally considered a self-portrait of Dürer, showing him with a sunken chest and with worn body and with lips parted in pain. Notice he’s holding the instruments of Christ’s torture, reminding us of Christ's sufferings.
Today this drawing can be seen in the Kunsthalle in Bremen.
3. With Dr. Arrieta?
Francisco Goya (1746-1828) was a celebrated 18th-century Spanish artist. His “Self-Portrait with Dr. Arrieta” (1820) is considered a tribute to his doctor who saved his life during an acute illness Goya suffered in 1819 when he was 73. The painting shows the doctor supporting Goya while raising a glass of medicine to his mouth in a moment of tenderness and feeling that is rare in Goya’s work. Strangely, Goya further celebrated his rescue from this brush with death by installing his 14 “Black Paintings” on the walls of his villa. These Black Paintings are the most sickening and nightmarish paintings he created.
The painting can be visited where it is housed at the Institute of Arts in Minneapolis, USA.
