A portrait is an image of a person. We are surrounded by images of people every day- on the television, in photographs, on phones, on book covers and in posters. And so, what makes an image of a person a portrait?

A portrait is an artwork about a person that shows us who they are.

The artist might use different tools to make sure that the personality, story, or importance of the person in the portrait is communicated to the viewer, meaning a portrait tells us something about the person in the image. 

For Windrush Day 2023, King Charles asked 10 talented artists to each make a portrait in their own artistic style to honour a person from what we now call the ‘Windrush Generation’.  The artists used the power of the portrait to communicate something about the person in the painting- their story, personality, or personal attributes.
 

You can find out more about how the artists did this in the next resource, Looking at portraits.  

Download the PDFs at the bottom of this page for discussion topics and activities to help you and your class to discover more about what makes a portrait.

Guidance notes on teaching the history of Windrush can be found via this link to the Dept. of Education website.