MIROIR DES PARADOXES (LE)

REMBRANDT, AUTOPORTRAITS (ENTRE 1627 ET 1669) - COLLECTION PALETTES

of JAUBERT Alain

FRANCE, 1991, 00:29:00

Production : DELTA IMAGES, PAINI Dominique, MUSEE DU LOUVRE, FR3, LA SEPT, REUNION DES MUSEES NATIONAUX, MUSEE D'ORSAY
Collection : Musée du Louvre
Genre : Documentary
Keyword : Art, Self-portrait, History of art, Louvre Museum, Painting

Summary :
Choosing key-works in the imaginary of the Western culture, the series called “Palettes” tells in each episode the story of a different painting. In a word, it tells the genealogy of the painting. For a painting has its ancestors and its descendants. A double technical and philosophical knowledge, fed on by a long tradition, gave birth to the painting. And the painting itself gave birth, year after year, to a multitude of other images…
Assuming the idea that the deep meaning of a painting is conveyed by the choice of colours and themes, we dissect the canvas from its most visible composition to its deepest significance.

The self-portrait has been made possible thanks to the spreading of the mirror between the 13th and the 15th century. Masaccio, Botticelli,Dürer preceded Rembrandt who gave all its importance to the genre. From his early paintings, Rembrandt staged himself. Later, in hundreds of engravings, drawings and paintings, he used his face as only subject.
Through canvasses and panels, we can follow the story of Rembrandt's face and also the symbolism of a changing humanist Europe.

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