Autoportrait 1780

Curator: This is Joseph Duplessis's "Autoportrait," created in 1780. It’s an oil painting, and a rather engaging one at that. Editor: My first thought? It's very…pink. The man's coat, his cheeks—it all has this gentle, rosy hue. Almost makes you think of sugared almonds or something. Curator: The color certainly does establish a mood. It speaks to the Rococo style, a period that reveled in ornamentation, playfulness, and lighter palettes. These symbols are also visual signifiers of status and taste in late 18th-century French society. Editor: Taste, definitely. But it also strikes me as slightly melancholic. Look at his eyes; there's a knowingness there that isn't quite joyful. The overall effect reminds me of certain moments, like you see it from behind a slightly rose-tinted and slightly blurring film. Curator: Yes, the coloring lends it a romantic sheen, almost masking its true reality. Self-portraits can act as carefully constructed displays of the self, presenting a carefully curated image to posterity. His subtle smile does seem more practiced than sincere, you are right. Editor: I think it's more than just self-representation. He's literally facing himself in the mirror as he's painting, a very common motive. I mean, it has to be odd, right, looking at yourself so intensely and trying to reproduce it on a canvas. A deep kind of meditation, if I allow myself a speculation. Curator: An apt description, considering his awareness of visual symbols and how these create collective memories, or as art historian Svetlana Alpers might suggest, creates cultural visual maps. Duplessis wasn't just capturing a likeness but consciously contributing to his artistic legacy. Editor: Legacy indeed. Next time I look at myself in a mirror, I'll think of him, surrounded by all that rose. There is some truth in that surface if you know how to gaze, you know. It is nice, really. Curator: Agreed, I feel now the work tells us perhaps even more about our world, today.