A self-portrait is a painting an artist has done using themself as the subject.
Dürer is recognised by art historians as being the first artist to regularly paint self-portraits. Three other artists known for their self-portraits are Rembrandt, who created around 90 self-portraits (paintings, drawings, and etchings) over 40 years; Vincent van Gogh, who painted around 25, most in the last two years of his life; and Frida Kahlo, who painted some 55 self-portraits.
Some people say that artists merely paint self-portraits as it solves the problem of having to find a model. But self-portraits offer more than that; there's the opportunity to paint a face changing with time, for in-depth study and development that comes with painting the same subject again and again.
A 1948 monograph on Rembrandt by Jacob Rosenberg describes Rembrandt's self-portraits as showing "a gradual change from outward description and characterisation to the most penetrating self-analysis and self-contemplation. ... Rembrandt seems to have felt that he had to know himself if he wished to penetrate the problem of man's inner life."
