Visions of the Self: Rembrandt and Now


Fabulous exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery in Grosvenor Hill of self-portraits by 20th century artists hung with a Rembrandt self-portrait from Kenwood House.

You name the artist and there was a picture of them here! Picasso, Freud, Bacon, Ego Schiele, Robert Mapplethrope, Jeff Koons and I could go on! There was also a new Jenny Saville painted in direct response to begin hung with the Rembrandt. My favourite piece though was by an artist I’d not heard of before, Urs Fischer, who had produced the sculpture shown here made of paraffin wax, pigment, steel and wicks! It was really strikingly realistic as you looked into the gallery.

The biggest crowd though was around the Rembrant and it was interesting to see it hung in a contemporary setting. It coped with it very well. It’s one of my favourites, the late one with two circles in the background. I always feel it’s referring to the legend of Giotto that says that great artists can paint a perfect circle freehand.

Closed on 18 May 2019

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