Rene magritte reflection painting10/3/2023 Does the reflection reveal the truth or instead present an illusion? Does it show what is normally hidden? Does the reflection invite self-reflection or is it a sign of superficiality? Take Narcissus, for instance, who saw himself in the surface of the water and was unable to tear himself away from that image. The significance of mirrors in art is characterised by ambiguity. Escher, Still Life with Mirror, lithograph, March 1934 He made several self-portraits with these spherical mirrors. It was a way of looking at things that fascinated Escher immensely. The artist thus emphasises that the mirror image is something other than the subject that is reflected. A characteristic feature of these three examples is the use of a convex mirror, with the reflection being distorted at the edges. The Flemish artist Clara Peeters mainly produced still lifes, but she often used the mirrored curved surfaces of caps, lids and jars to present a miniature self-portrait. With Parmigianino, the work itself is actually a mirror. With Van Eyck, the mirror is a subtle but essential part of the representation. Powerful examples of those early works in which mirrors play an important role include Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife (1434) by Jan van Eyck and Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror (1524) by Parmigianino. Collection: Kunsthistorisches Museum, ViennaĬlara Peeters, Still Life with Flowers, a Silver-gilt Goblet, Dried Fruit, Sweetmeats, Bread sticks, Wine and a Pewter Pitcher, oil on panel, 1611. Parmigianino, Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror, oil on panel, 1524. The American painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell did the same over 300 years later, placing his work among self-portraits by Dürer, Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Picasso and illustrating the long history of the art form. ![]() Austrian painter Johannes Gump portrayed himself working on a self-portrait with the help of a mirror. A painted reflection reminds us of the painter’s artistry, his view of the world and his power to shape what we see. When an artist does show the mirror, the image raises deeper questions about the work and what it means to look at someone’s inverted image. Albrecht Dürer referred to the mirror in a self-portrait of 1484 by writing on the drawing that he had made it with the help of a mirror. The artist usually looked directly at the viewer. The mirror itself, however, was rarely depicted. The self-portrait emerged as a way of promoting oneself as an artist. At the end of the Middle Ages, with the rise of the independent craftsman, the use of mirrors also became fashionable. Ever since humans first saw themselves and their world reflected in a shiny surface, they have been fascinated by that image. He did not fit any of the prevailing art movements and there were virtually no artists working on the same theme, but he was certainly not alone in his fascination with mirrors. It is often said of Escher that he was a one-man art movement. Jan van Eyck, Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife, oil on oak panel, 1434. Creating order out of chaos was an important motive for him and reflections were an important and useful tool to that end.Īlbrecht Dürer, Self-portrait, silverpoint drawing, 1484. Escher saw the world as a place where order and chaos fight for attention, with chaos often triumphing. Well, almost – it can also be that one half subtly differs from the other. His prints often feature tessellations with repeating patterns, but also mirrored halves that are superimposed. ![]() Sometimes indirectly, through the repetition and reflection that mirroring entails. Sometimes very directly through the use of a mirror and because a print is always a mirror image of the woodblock or lithographic stone. ![]() It was a very important theme to him and these reflections feature in all sorts of ways. In his prints, he created a world full of reflections in which he constantly encountered himself and his themes, and his objects also encounter each other. ![]() But also composed and perhaps even a little mocking. He looks at you in mirror prints such as Hand with Reflecting Sphere and Three Spheres II. His prints are instantly recognisable, but the man behind them was something of an enigma. Certainly in the world of Maurits Cornelis Escher. In general, mirrors reflect reality, but in the world of art, different laws apply.
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