Art is the Solution

For one reason or another, self-portraits are massively popular in the world of art. There are many possible explanations for this. For obvious reasons, most people are deeply interested in themselves, and self-portraits eliminate the need for a willing and cooperative model. However, the genre of the self-portrait also offers unique opportunities for experimentation and introspection that are unavailable in other forms of art. That being said, some self-portraits are just plain weird and crazy. So, today I’m going to share some of the most unusual self-portraits I could find. Let’s dive in! The Desperate Man by Gustave Courbet - I have to be honest, this self-portrait holds a sort of panache that is almost unparalleled in art history. The Desperate Man captures the artist Gustave Courbet at the tender age of twenty-four. The self-portrait portrays Courbet in a moment of emotional turmoil. The artist stares wildly out at the viewer as he runs his fingers through his hair. His shirt bi...

Christ of Saint John on the Cross Source:  Basilica of the National Shrine of the Little Flower Although Salvador Dalí was well known for his stranger paintings, he also had a strong interest in portraying religious subjects. This wasn’t because Dalí—who was an extremely eccentric individual—was at all devout, but rather because he was interested in exploring the power of religious imagery. In essence, Dalí used art to forge a mystical connection to what he perceived to be divine. Christ of Saint John on the Cross is one of Dalí’s most interesting religious paintings. The piece depicts the crucified Christ from above, with the cross hanging seemingly unsupported in the sky. Christ’s body slumps off the cross, as if he is about to fall out of the sky. The graceful arc of his arms resembles the sweeping wings of a bird. Below, a seascape stretches to the horizon below, and a boat bobs in the water. This part of the scene is modeled on Port Lligat, where Dalí lived. The pa...

Madonna of Port Lligat Source: Haggerty Museum of Art Among modern artists, there is perhaps no one individual as recognizable or as eccentric as Salvador Dalí (he kept both anteaters and ocelots as pets, for starters). Dalí’s “melting clocks” (an aspect of his painting The Persistence of Memory ) have become well established in pop culture, allowing him to become a household name throughout the Western world. I’m typically not a big fan of Dalí’s work, but I was struck by one of his paintings that I encountered recently while doing research on another piece of art. The piece is entitled the Madonna of Port Lligat , and I think it’s rather fascinating. Dalí was interested in discovering the power behind images. This led him to explore religious themes in his work, through which he attempted to access a spiritual connection to the power they contained. In essence, Dalí used art to forge a mystical connection to what he perceived to be divine. In Madonna of Port Lligat , Dalí per...