ACHTUNG: Sie befinden sich im Museum-Online-Archiv 1997. Die Inhalte dieser Seite sind unter Umständen nicht mehr aktuell.ACHTUNG: Sie befinden sich im Museum-Online-Archiv 1997. Die Inhalte dieser Seite sind unter Umständen nicht mehr aktuell.Flat mirrors reflect a picture the wrong way round which lies behind the mirror at the same distance as the object in front of it. From the beginning of the 16th century onwards the flat mirror was generally accepted. Since then, it has been triumphant not only in the house, but in architecture as awhole. In the halls of mirrorsand in the galleries of mirrors of the baroque and rococo palaces it is the principal element of the furnishings. Galleries of mirrors were also used as exhibition rooms in which the collected objects that had been put on consoles could also be seen from the back side in the mirror wall. Concave mirrors function in the same way as lenses. A convex mirror, which is curved outwardly, makes an object smaller, whereas a concave mirror, which is curved inwards, magnifies it.
A reflection is defined by the "throwing back" (i.e. reflecting) of a picture with the help of mirrors but also through critical observation and through thinking about perceptions, actions, attitudes and insight.
The mirror as a symbol
Reflecting surfaces as well as the natural surface of the water played an important part in the religious concepts of many peoples. They believed e.g. that somebody who was gazing at his own reflection on the water would lose his soul in the process. Therefore Narcissus, who was in love with his own reflection, was doomed. On the other hand, a mirror reconfirms the existence of something. In order to bar the dead from staying on earth, people veiled the mirrors in the death chamber. A mirror without any reflection means nothingness, but also a door which leads into a different world. Only if something truly existent "steps into" the surface of the mirror, a picture will be shown, some pseudo-reality. In the art of the middle ages a mirror stands for chastity and transitoriness as well as for enjoyment of the pleasures of life and obsession for dressing up. Alberti, a renaissance master builder and art theorist (1401-1472), was of the opinion that the mirror had been the first artist and had to be seen as the beginning of art since it "depicted" something. As an ancient and traditional subject, the mirror has a prominent position in the creation and the formulation of aesthetics. In modern art a mirror can assume diverse symbolical meanings. Surrealism, e.g., uses the reality created by the mirror image as if it were superior to everyday reality.
"Mirror images" - the mirror as a subject and as a motif
A mirror, like as a picture itself, reflects "reality". Due to its respective qualities, it either depicts, magnifies an object or makes it smaller, sometimes it even evokes infinity. Just like the objective of a camera, a mirror delimits excerpts from a variety of pictures either through its outline or with its frame and cuts them. Depending on its position, it either tilts them or puts them at an angle. From the early days, there was a certain preference to use reflecting water surfaces and reflecting surfaces of other suitable materials in still lives due to their intensified expression and the transmission of material qualities and refraction. With the help of reflections several messages could be sent at the same time. A reflection informs us about the source and the intensity of light, the surroundings of an object and about visual impressions that are situated farther away.
By depicting reality the artist takes stock of what he considers worth communicating. In the mirror, too, a depiction varies due to the "setting", for even a selection of excerpts provides an interpretation of the overall picture. You can see yourself in the mirror, but you can also steer for parts of the environment or for other people. Depending on how you hold the mirror, you can even see yourself upside down, with your feet on the ceiling. Because of this, you realize familiar things more intensely or even as completely new. Surfaces curved by mirror tiles take a picture apart (also by shifting the edges), broken pieces of mirror tiles make it undone.
The mirror belongs to man as the most important attribute of his surroundings, because it is used as a mean of self-control and to check on everyday life. Man likes depicting himself in pictures and when he is looking at himself. This enhances his status as a person and is a proof of his "handsome appearance" and that he accepts himself. It also shows that he wants to come to terms with his personality or that he has already completed his development. Visions and mirror images may prompt new ways of looking at things.
Functions of the mirror in Schiele´s self-portraits:
Animations!