Memento Mori or Just a Joke?
Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette (1886)
32,3 × 24,8 cm
Oil on canvas
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890)
Van Gogh Museum (Vincent van Gogh Foundation), Amsterdam
Currently at the exhibition GOTHIC MODERN in the ALBERTINA in Vienna
www.albertina.at/en/exhibitions/gothic-modern/
"Was Vincent influenced by 17th-century Dutch vanitas paintings, in which skulls serve as a "memento mori," a reminder of mortality? Was Vincent commenting on the fragility of life and the passage of time?"
The Van Gogh Museum curators' interpretation is: "it's just a joke. The choice of a skeleton was likely inspired by Vincent's classes at the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts; skeletons were used to teach students about anatomy and give them drawing practice. But Vincent was hardly a dutiful student: both his letters and anecdotes from others record that he sparred with his drawing and painting teachers and was scornful of conservative academic practice. His time at the Academy lasted only weeks; he felt he was learning nothing and later proclaimed academic training "damned boring." Taken from that perspective, "Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette" could be read as a thumbing-of-the-nose at "the establishment.""
vangoghschair.blogspot.com/2008/06/memento-mori-or-just-j...
Memento Mori or Just a Joke?
Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette (1886)
32,3 × 24,8 cm
Oil on canvas
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890)
Van Gogh Museum (Vincent van Gogh Foundation), Amsterdam
Currently at the exhibition GOTHIC MODERN in the ALBERTINA in Vienna
www.albertina.at/en/exhibitions/gothic-modern/
"Was Vincent influenced by 17th-century Dutch vanitas paintings, in which skulls serve as a "memento mori," a reminder of mortality? Was Vincent commenting on the fragility of life and the passage of time?"
The Van Gogh Museum curators' interpretation is: "it's just a joke. The choice of a skeleton was likely inspired by Vincent's classes at the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts; skeletons were used to teach students about anatomy and give them drawing practice. But Vincent was hardly a dutiful student: both his letters and anecdotes from others record that he sparred with his drawing and painting teachers and was scornful of conservative academic practice. His time at the Academy lasted only weeks; he felt he was learning nothing and later proclaimed academic training "damned boring." Taken from that perspective, "Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette" could be read as a thumbing-of-the-nose at "the establishment.""
vangoghschair.blogspot.com/2008/06/memento-mori-or-just-j...