Vanitas still life
We will all die
Vanitas still lifes, Dutch, around 1700
Oil on canvas; 41 x 49,5 cm (without frame)
Savings Banks Cultural Foundation
Throughout history, many people have feared dying and death. Yet, death itself, due to its inevitability, has always held a profound fascination. This seemingly contradictory attitude is reflected quite strikingly in the vanitas still lifes of the 17th century, the heyday of this subject. Vanitas, Latin for vanity and transience, was meant to remind us that death is inescapable and inevitable. This statement was even more widely known as "Memento mori!" (Remember death!). To keep this thought ever-present, it was also applied to everyday objects. The motif of the skull appeared particularly frequently. It was incorporated into everyday objects, painted on, or carved into them, so that it was often before our eyes, reminding us of its brief earthly existence. Vanitas still lifes were often hung in people's homes. They were understood less as art than as a warning and a reminder of one's own mortality.
The vanitas still life from the collection of the Museum of Sepulchral Culture displays, among other exhibits, several other important symbols of the memento mori concept. On a table stands an almost completely burned-out, extinguished candle. Next to it is a bowl filled with soapy water, symbolizing fleeting prosperity. Ears of grain also stand on the table. They may remind us of vitality, fertility, and life force, but by bending, they also symbolize inevitable death. A few soap bubbles float beside the skull. They illustrate the idea of transience particularly well, for they still shimmer in the light and reflect the vibrant life—but they will soon burst. Other popular vanitas symbols in early modern art included fruit bowls and bouquets showing signs of decay, (sand) clocks symbolizing the passage of time, musical instruments whose notes fade so quickly—including sheet music—overturned glasses, mirrors, dried loaves of bread, books, and so on. Occasionally, these symbols were accompanied by captions. An example is the painting "Vanitas Allegory" by Jacques de Gheyn II (c. 1565–1629) with the inscription: "servare modum, finemque tueri, naturam sequi" (Keep the pace, consider the end, and follow nature). The viewer is admonished to enjoy life while respecting Christian and ethical-moral values and not to forget their own mortality. They are called upon to confront death and accept it as part of the eternal cycle and thus as something inevitable.
The 17th century was the heyday of the vanitas still life, which developed into its own genre. But even after that, various ephemeral motifs can still be found on everyday objects and in art. Although the warning of Memento died Although it lost much of its importance at the beginning of the 19th century, it has not completely disappeared today and can still occasionally be found on gravestones or in obituaries, as well as in art and film.
Julia Thomalla