André Kertész was able to tell a complete story in a single photograph, encoding poetic symbols, enigmatic elements and multiple layers of meaning in his images. Through the means of counterpoint, his photos often juxtapose the old with the new, progress with stasis, reality with illusion. Though he recorded aspects of the outside world, he considered himself an important actor of the events—as a self-conscious artist would. The self-portraits, which he made from early on well into his old age, reveal as much. In addition to the self-portraits made in a mirror or with a self-timer, he also created metaphorical ones, which may not show him, but which still talk about him—his melancholy, his inner dramas, his faith in art, his musings on mortality.