Vanitas
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- This article is about the fine art genre. For the pejorative name for the political party, see Veritas (political party)
Vanitas is a term referring to the arts, learning and time. The word is Latin, meaning "vanity." In particular Ecclesiastes 1:2 from the Bible is often quoted:
- vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas (Vulgate)
translating to:
Such paintings are meant as a reminder of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure and the certainty of death, encouraging a sombre world view.
It is often depicted in still life symbolic paintings by Northern European painters in Flanders, and the Netherlands. Common vanitas symbols are:
- Skulls: a reminder of the certainty of death
- Rotten Fruit: symbolising decay
- Bubbles: symbolising brevity of life and suddenness of death
- Smoke, Watches or Hourglasses: symbolising the brevity of life
- Musical Instruments: symbolising brevity, and the ephemeral nature of life.
The first movement in composer Robert Schumann's 5 Pieces in a Folk Style, for Cello and Piano, Op. 103, is entitled Vanitas vanitatum. Mit Humor.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Vanitas in contemporary art An exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
- Vanitas paintings in the London National Gallery
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