Vanitas Inspiration

I'm currently working on a new painting inspired by vanitas themes, meaning “emptiness”, “foolish pride” and “vanity” in latin, the vanitas theme were common in medieval funerary art and during the 15th century these became morbid and explicit, showcasing an increased obsession with death and the over tone of Memeto Mori. These paintings were often a reminder of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure and a certainty of death. Vanitas paintings along with some of my Skeleton Krew paintings try to remind the viewer of how temporary human life really is.

The vanitas work of art was especially associated with Northern European still life painting in Flanders, Holland and the Netherlands during the 16th and 17th centuries.

COMMON SYMBOLS include:

~ skulls: certainty of death

~ rotten fruit: decay and aging

~ bubbles: sudden death, brief death

~ smoke, watches, hourglasses: short life

~ musical instruments: short lived, lasting only one day

~ fruit, flowers, butterflies can be interpreted the same way

The current painting in progress features a young woman in mask and white dress, she is revealing her bones and is holding a skull and is pinned with drooping roses. Behind her is an hour glass already empty, she is of course already dead hence a part of the Skeleton Krew. I'm looking forward to share this collection and my newest paintings in my art show come January. 

Top image: Vanitas Still Life, 1603. Jaques de Gheyn the Elder (Dutch, 1565-1629) Oil on wood; 32 1/2 x 21 1/4 in. The Meropolitan Museum of Art New York, Vanitas Still Life

Bottom image: Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne, Ex minimis patest ipse Dues (God is revealed in the smallest work of his creation), from Zeeusche nachtegael (Middleburgh, 1623), National Gallery of Art, Washington, Library