What you see is what you get?

Picasso, GIRL BEFORE A MIRROR

1. What meanings can you find in the fact that the face on the left is different
from its reflected image in the mirror?

2. Carefully comparing the two images, can you find elements to suggest that the image
on the left comes closer to representing actual appearance, while the reflection is more
imaginary?

3. On separate paper, write a brief essay on one of the paragraphs bellow.

a) Paintings and photographs are reflections of a kind. What do we perceive in

an actual person that is not reflected through a picture of him? What can we see in a painting of a
person that we cannot know from a person directly? In what sense is art the “mirror of life”?

b) How do we perceive the “self”? Is there an outer self of external appearance

and actions, and an inner self of thought and feeling? How is an “inner self” reflected in our
actions? Is there just one self, composed of many different parts, or having many different facets?
How do you think most people perceive themselves in these terms?

c) Some aspects of a person can be perceived more easily than others; for example, a
person’s appearance is reflected very accurately in our eyes. Our aspects of a person are not so
apparent, and we may feel that they are less “real”. What are some of the less visible aspects of a
person that psychology has shown to be real and important parts of the self?