These days, anybody with a smart phone can snap a selfie in a split second.
Now the modern obsession has inspired a new exhibition in the Netherlands. Back in the Dutch Golden Age, they were called self-portraits and were the preserve of highly trained artists who thought long and hard about every aspect of the painting.
The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague is staging an exhibition focusing solely on these 17th century self-portraits, highlighting the similarities and the differences between modern-day snapshots and historic works of art.
The exhibition opens Thursday and runs until January 3rd. It features 27 self-portraits by artists ranging from Rembrandt to his student Judith Leyster, whose self-portrait is on loan from the National Gallery of Art in Washington
Selfie is not a new thing; it started way back in 1839 when photographer Robert Cornelius captured one. In the past two years it has become explosively popular.
Selfie means taking a closeup photo with your phone or any other camera in an angle that makes the face look nice. It can include just yourself or friends and sometimes the background as well.
Sadly enough there have been more selfie deaths than shark attacks in the world.
According to The Telegraph, there have already been 12 recorded selfie deaths in 2015. In contrast, there have only been 8 reported shark related deaths.
According to a Wikipedia, the twelve selfie deaths that have occurred in 2015 are as follows:
- An American woman fell to her death while taking a selfie with her boyfriend on a cliff in South Africa.
2, 3. Two Russian men were killed while taking a selfie with a hand grenade.
4, 5, 6. Three Indian students were killed by an oncoming train while taking selfies on train tracks.
- A Romanian teenager was electrocuted when she was taking a selfie on top of a train and touched a high-voltage wire.
- A Russian teen was also electrocuted after touching live wires while taking a selfie near railway tracks.
- A Russian woman shot herself in the head while trying to take a selfie with a gun.
- A woman in Moscow City died falling from a bridge, where she was trying to take a selfie.
- A teenager in Houston, Texas, fatally shot himself while taking a selfie with a gun.
- A Japanese tourist died falling down the stairs while taking a selfie at the Taj Mahal.
How far would you stretch your abilities to take a perfect selfie?
