'The deadly sins' and other self portraits

The self portrait has a long tradition in art. Almost every painter in history has painted one or more self portraits. You don't have to please the sitter and likeness is less important, so it gives the portrait painter more creative possibilities. And when the painter gets tired, the sitter does too!

The portrait on the top left is shown during the painting process in 'Process / Prices' (see menu). The one with the glasses is a metaphor: I'm filled with dismay after I've become a fulltime portrait painter just when the world is hit by all sorts of economic crises.

The painting on the top right ('Smile') hints at the usually exaggerated smiles in portraits. The one underneath is inspired by the portrait of my mother, which is shown in 'Other portraits'.

The Seven Deadly Sins

The seven deadly sins have inspired numerous artists in all fields. Perhaps the most famous is 'The Divine Comedy' by Dante Alighieri (... or is it the movie 'Se7en' with Brad Pitt?). Even Unilever uses the theme by naming there ice lollies after the seven sins.

I wanted to paint a portrait in each of the primary colours yellow, red and blue, the secondary colours green, orange and purple and a grey one in the middle. Also I wanted each painting to show one hand in a characteristic pose for the specific sin: pride, jealousy, anger, sloth, meanness, intemperance and lust.