• Could the flayed skin in Michaelangelo's painting be a mode of self cleansing?—EC

• My question is "Do you believe that Van Gogh's, Velazquez's, and Leyster's self-portraits include them painting because they see painting as an extension of themselves?"—BH

• Why do some artists (such as Velazquez) use people other than himself in his self portrait?—ER

• I notice that a lot of the pictures aren’t really self-portraits at all in the common sense of the word; many take the focus off of them and onto other subjects. I don’t look at many self-portraits but are many like these? Hiding their faces behind a bigger picture?—KW

• And the question in particular I have is about Van Gogh and why he decided to take a self-portrait right after his ear incident. Did he realize how absurd it was, and did the portrait to commemorate it perhaps?—KW

• My suggestion for tomorrow is to talk about Van Gogh's easel portrait.—RS

• I have a few questions regarding the paintings of Frida Kahlo. The portrait on the right is interesting when contrasted to the one on the left. With an image of Diego on her forehead, Frida Kahlo is fully clothed and only her face can be seen. The other portrait, however, shows her semi-naked. In addition she is splitting apart and the viewer can see inside her body, which for some reason contains a column. The background also shows openness. Is it possible that she sees herself differently when she is alone? Is she more open or does she fall apart when alone?—CD

• What does the broken pillar in Frida Kahlo's second self-portrait represent? Are those white belts supposed to keep her from falling apart?—JP

• Francis Bacon: why is this particular self portrait so deformed from the chin to the nose; furthermore, why is this the only one that fails to have a facial expression?—SC

• Francis Bacon: what is the meaning of the different colors? Is this how the Artist view himself, the World, or Humans in general?—MG

• This is Salvador Dali's saying: "I do not paint a portrait to look like the subject, rather does the person grow to look like his portrait." Salvador Dali drew himself notably from Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, but with his eyes, mustache, and coins on his left hand. Why did he paint himself as a woman? And what do the coins on his hand represent?—KT

• In the portrait of Andy Warhol, he places himself in the bottom of the frame. He also covers his face in camouflage, I wonder if he is trying to convey shyness with this portrait?—JB

• In Andy Warhol’s self-portrait, why is his face seemingly hidden behind what looks to be camouflage?—RS

• Why did Chuck Close feel the need to recreate a self-portrait? His first two self portraits seem to be identical.—SM

• My question concerns the "portraits" of Cindy Sherman. You had said in class that the pictures were not formal portraits nor were they recognized as such by Sherman. With that said, are they still portraits or they merely pictures of a woman? If we are to consider them to be portraits, then is it safe to conclude that all pictures of people are portraits?—KM

• I was a bit curious about Erina Matsui's portrait, so I looked it up on the Internet. The pink animal in her self portrait is a wooper hooper (Axolotl). I think she drew it because she had received a toy like that from her grandmother.—KT

• I think if I were to do a self-portrait, I would probably do it in the style of Michaelangelo, making myself not the focus at all, but about the rest of the picture—KW

• I would say that those self-portraits [Van Gogh's, Velazquez's, and Leyster's] are the most similar to my own.—BH

• If i were to choose one of the self portraits that were chosen for our discussion i would have to chose lucian freud's. I chose this portrait because i found it to depict him as kind of "battle tested" or rough, like he had been through some trials and tribulations and i find that to be very respectable. if i were to paint a portrait of myself i would choose to include a depiction of the trials of my life.—LK

• Chuck Close—SC

• I feel that Cindy Sherman's portrait style is closest to what I would do for myself.—RA

• If I were to model my own self-portrait after one of those in our handout, it would be those of Cindy Sherman.—JB

• Of all the self-portraits there are I would make my own self-portrait similar to that of Erina Matsui. There were many different animals and objects that seemed very random, and the way they were positioned very odd. I admire her picture because there is some mistery and there are also answers to why she drew herself in such a way, and im more than sure even though we don't know what to make of this intricate self-portrait, she has given us more than plenty about her life.—PI