Facing the World

The self-portrait is a genuinely European species of Fine Art, and an extremely topical genre: whether late medieval portrait in the mirror, proud self-representation during the Baroque period, or portrayal of the sentimental self in Romanticism – the separate identity within the image opens up a whole scope of themes that reaches as far as the phenomenon of today's Selfie, shared million­fold on the web. Exhibition and catalogue were ­designed in an international collabo­ration of ­museums in Karlsruhe, Lyon and Edinburgh. A collection of more than 100 works from their collections (paintings, drawings, prints and videos) is dedicated to the many motifs of human self-questioning and self-expression.