Van Gogh's self-portraits reveal a range of ideas and states of feelings, such as his painting "Self-Portrait", created in 1889, which shows a pale, craggy face and brings about feelings of anxiety and loneliness. Another of his self-portraits also painted in 1889, has a firm and focused face that generates a feeling of uneasiness and tension. It is also interesting to note that Van Gogh did not paint any self-portraits when he was staying in Nuenen as he had just had a major dental treatment, and at that point in time, he saw himself as a person too unpresentable to be shown in a self-portrait. It was only later in Paris where he felt more like a man about town, giving him the confidence necessary to paint his self-portraits, most of which were created when he felt a need for self-analysis. In Van Gogh's two infamous self-portraits depicting his mutilated ear, which he drew after a quarrel with Gauguin, it can be seen that the second version was not a copy of the first, but instead was Van Gogh's second interpretation of his fluctuating mental condition. The two self-portraits also represent his final rejection of himself as a suitable portrait candidate, signifying how he had finally given up on himself. From the above points, it is obvious that Van Gogh's self-portraits function as a form of self-analysis, and to us viewers, they provide an insight into his character and emotions.
             Now, let us look at Rembrandt's self-portraits. Throughout his entire life, Rembrandt painted over 60 self-portraits, due to his insatiable curiosity about human nature. In his mind, they were done as a challenge of the revelation of the human soul. Rembrandt's self-portraits depicted him in his multiple phases of life, and they chronicled the changes he went through as his life went on, from a young man who was partly confident, partly unsure, to the success he experienced in his middle age, to his old age where he can be seen still searching but les...