Probably at no other time in history have artists devoted so much energy to self-portraits as in modern times. Through hairstyles or clothing exhibiting different degrees of eccentricity and soon to become commonplaces, the modern artist shows off his rebellious individualism to society, sometimes as a dandy, sometimes as a bohemian. But what is more significant in these new galleries is the profusion of portraits of figures making up the artist’s closest circles: poets and writers who, in the exercise of their new mission as art critics for periodicals and magazines, were to become an essential instrument for integrating modern art in mass society.