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The Philosopher Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel

Jakob Schlesinger · 1831

A portrait of Hegel painted by Jakob Schlesinger in the year of the philosopher's death, now the defining image of him.

This is the defining painted portrait of Hegel, made in the year of his death.

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Oil painting of an older man with thinning grey hair, pale blue eyes, and a serious expression, wearing a brown fur-collared coat and white cravat against a dark background.
Jakob Schlesinger, The Philosopher Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel, 1831. Alte Nationalgalerie.

About this source

What it is

This oil painting by Jakob Schlesinger shows Hegel as an older man, painted in 1831, the year Hegel died. It is held at the Alte Nationalgalerie.

Why it matters

This portrait is the image most people picture when they think of Hegel: an aging professor in Berlin, near the end of his life and career. As a painted likeness made at the very end of his life, it shapes how later generations have imagined the philosopher behind the dense books of logic and history.

Look closer

  • What does the serious expression and dark clothing suggest about how Schlesinger wanted Hegel to be remembered?
  • Why might a portrait made in someone's final year of life feel different from one made earlier in their career?
  • What can a painted portrait tell us about a person, and what can it not tell us?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Lithograph of a bearded man in a dark coat leaning over a wooden lectern, speaking to three students seen from behind in long coats, one holding a top hat. A fourth figure sketches at right. Handwritten signature 'Gb Hegel' below.Painting

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Hegel mit Studenten

Franz Kugler

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