The The Visual Culture of the Selfie from the Perspective of “Culture of Narcissism”
The Issues of the Selfie within the Art History of Self-Portraits
Abstract
This essay explores the visual culture of the selfie through the lens of art history, particularly focusing on self-portraits and the “Culture of Narcissism.” It examines key works such as Albrecht Dürer’s Christ as the Man of Sorrows, Self-Portrait of the Artist Holding a Thistle, Self-Portrait with White Gloves, and Self-Portrait in a Fur Collar; Andrzej Dudek-Dürer’s Self-Crucifixion and Multiplied Metaphysical and Telepathic Self-Portrait III; Caravaggio’s Narcissus; Salvador Dalí’s Metamorphosis of Narcissus; and Jacek Malczewski’s Christ Before Pilate. The second part of the essay delves into Jacques Lacan’s concept of the “mirror stage,” a developmental phase occurring between six and eighteen months of age, where a child transitions from the real to the imaginary order. This stage involves a child’s holistic inspection of their reflection, resulting in “primary narcissism” – a self-love rooted in autoeroticism before the formation of the ego. In the conclusion, the essay reflects on the selfie as a modern manifestation of these historical and psychological themes. By comparing the selfie to classical self-portraits and the Narcissus motif, the essay argues that contemporary self-photography revisits the same narcissistic mechanisms seen in art history. Caravaggio’s depiction of Narcissus is the prototype of the selfie, which, through its embrace of self-reflection, continues the legacy of self-portraiture and it has become the icon of neuroaesthetics.
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