Mirror, Mirror: Can You Identify the Famous Artists Behind these Amazing Self-Portraits?

Can anyone doubt that we live in a selfie-obsessed culture? According to one statistic, 93 selfies are taken each day - by Android devices alone. Another poll found that the average millennial (anyone born after 1980) will take more than 25,000 selfies during their lifetime. And those statistics don't even cover how many times those photos are shared across the multiple social media platforms. Is this a golden age of self-expression? Or a disastrous cultural trend turning the younger generations into narcissistic nightmares? No matter where you fall on that question, one thing is certain: the urge to capture your own image and portray it to an audience is not new. The self-portrait has been around since antiquity and appeared in every major art movement through the centuries and across the globe. Come explore the selfie's granddaddy with this quiz on self-portraits through the ages!

This quiz features some of the greatest examples of self-portraiture in art history. Some are by artists you've surely heard of and some you might not have. Either way, it's fascinating to compare how various artists have chosen to represent themselves. From cheeky to tortured, center-stage to subtle, vain to utterly exposed. . . this collection of self-portraits from some of most celebrated artists in history shows the vast range of artistic expression that this unique medium has generated. Ok, time to dive in and give this self-portrait quiz a go! 

If you enjoyed this challenge, then be sure to check out our full collection of art and art history offerings. Art provides a window into cultures across the globe, tracing our shared human experience through the ages. Understanding how people have used images to communicate ideas and emotions through time is the foundation of visual literacy — the ability to "think through, think about, and think with pictures". In today's increasingly image-based world, the ability to speak, write and interpret visually is as essential as the ABCs.