self-portrait

American  

[self-pawr-trit, -treyt, -pohr-, self-] / ˌsɛlfˈpɔr trɪt, -treɪt, -ˈpoʊr-, ˈsɛlf- /

noun

1. a portrait of oneself done by oneself.

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self-portrait British  

noun

1. a portrait one draws or paints of oneself

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Etymology

Origin of self-portrait

First recorded in 1830–40

Explanation

If you draw a picture of yourself, it's a self-portrait. Vincent van Gogh was well-known for his many self-portraits, painting more than 40 of them over the course of a few years. Whenever an artist creates a portrait of herself, whatever medium she uses, the result is a self-portrait. A six year-old can draw a self-portrait in crayon, and a famous sculptor can sculpt one out of clay. In the mid-15th century, Early Renaissance painters were the first to focus on creating deliberate self-portraits; this was probably due partly to the fact that mirrors had just recently become affordable and fairly easy to find.

Example Sentences

The final sections of the research consider whether modern descendants share physical similarities with Leonardo's famous self-portrait.

From Science Daily • May 4, 2026

“I was 20 or 21 then. I’d had a psychotic episode and was taken to a public hospital in Massachusetts,” says Palm Springs-based artist Lisa McCord of the self-portrait she later staged.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 9, 2026

A self-portrait created during that time, which now hangs in the Tate Britain, so impressed her tutor Frederick Brown that he bought it and it hung in his home.

From BBC • Feb. 7, 2026

Mexican painter Frida Kahlo became the most expensive female artist at auction on Thursday when Sotheby’s in New York sold her sleeping self-portrait for $54.7 million.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025

After the remains of my self-portrait, I toss in the useless DIY-clover.

From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson