People always make a big deal about Rembrandt painting self-portraits. The literal ones where he looks in the mirror. I think Rembrandt was a deeper thinker than that and I think his art also probably express something more in some ways than most people know. For example, at the beginning of his art career when he was totally rich and famous and married to an heiress named Saskia he painted this first version of the prodigal son story where the prodigal son is living it up and wasting his money. It's kind of funny because I don't know if Rembrandt was thinking that that's what he was doing but he was. So later on in Rembrandt's life he's hit with a bunch of tragedies and when he's an old man he paints the last part of the prodigal son story and it's painted much more dramatically and thickly. It's the part of the story where the prodigal son's father welcomes him back into the fold and forgives him all of his sins. Damn I love art history!
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