Self-portrait exhibition gives an intriguing picture

In November, Tix-Media, the parent company of Bund One Art Museum, and the Uffizi Galleries signed a partnership contract that will see the latter present 10 exhibitions in Shanghai over the next five years. The first exhibition of this series was to be Botticelli and Renaissance Masters but it had to be postponed from March to next year due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Shanghai.

Self-portraits have a special significance at the Uffizi as the museum has a collection of more than 1,800 that date back to the Renaissance era.

The institution later expanded the collection to include the works of modern and contemporary artists.

Creating self-portraits was different from painting portraits for clients or working on religious subjects for their patrons, says Xie Dingwei, founding director of Tix-Media and head of the Bund One Art Museum.

"Artists didn't have to consider the preferences or demands of the clients－they only had to focus on how they wanted to present themselves," Xie says.

One of the most iconic paintings among the exhibits is a self-portrait that Raphael created in 1506 showing himself as a young man dressed in his working attire and a dark cap. This outfit was later dubbed the "raffaella" style.