Unlimited – Self-portraits from our own collection

Especially for the exhibition Unlimited - Self-portraits from our own collection, Dutch artist Sam Drukker has taken on the role of curator. His selection comprises more than fifty self-portraits from the Drents Museum collection.

Self-portraits provide a glimpse into the mind of the artist. After all, the maker of the painting, drawing or sculpture is also the person being portrayed. The Drents Museum collects art from around 1900 as well as contemporary figurative art. If you add up the number of self-portraits in these collections, you quickly arrive at 350 works of art. At first glance, the various portraits seem to be very different. But if you take a longer look, you will also find similarities.

In the older works of art, Drukker recognises both the craftsmanship of his distant predecessors and his preference for using only a few colours and shades. The selection of contemporary works mainly includes skilfully made self-portraits, which are sometimes humorous and often radical. But above all, Drukker sees his colleagues as keen observers who choose to depict reality in an extremely realistic manner.

Philip Akkerman, Self-portrait, 2007, oil on panel, Drents Museum collection.