Self-Portrait

Museum record 13551: Self-Portrait by Edgar Degas. A verified entry point for discovery.

What to notice

For Self-Portrait (record 13551), start with modern, expressive, atmospheric. Compare the focal subject, edge treatment, and atmosphere before moving on.

Discover

A work of surprising sophistication for a relatively young practitioner of the art, this etching was clearly inspired by the early graphic self-portraits of Rembrandt. Degas gleaned from the Baroque master his capacity to create an atmosphere from which a convincing presence emerges. This probing self-appraisal was made when the artist was only twenty-three years old. The maturity of Degas’s gaze is matched by the sophistication of his technique. He has printed this etching with a personalized, rich wipi…