There are obvious differences between the realistic portraiture of Rembrandt and the narrative fairytale of Chagall. Rembrandt relies on his physical features to portray himself, Chagall reveals himself through a fantastical story of abstracted shapes. They both however, as did van Gogh, Kahlo and Picasso, use a human-like figure, variably distorted, as the center of their self-portraits.

When artists like Jackson Pollack (1912-1956) and Mark Rothko (1903-1970) took Abstraction to a new level, there were no longer human figures represented on the canvas. The Abstract Expressionists’ works, although difficult to call self-portraiture, are still deeply emotional and revealing. Kelly described the abstract piece of art best when he termed them "autobiographical outpourings." The impulsiveness and spontaneity of Pollack's drippings and splatterings can be seen as a more realistic view of the artist's feelings than the carefully constructed brush strokes of other artists seeking to create a self-portrait. Janson described Pollack's use of paint as a "storehouse of pent-up forces for him to release."

Mark Rothko's deeply saturated bands of color seem even farther removed from the figure than Pollack's paintings. But yet, the artist's emotions still come forth. "The people who weep before my pictures," Rothko noted, "are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them."