Memento Mori

Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas
Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless

One of my favourite kind of paintings are Vanitas-paintings. Vanitas is Latin and means ‘emptiness’ or ‘vanity’. Vanitas are symbolic still life paintings who want to remind us of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure and the certainty of death. In the paintings we often find skulls symbolizing death. Besides skulls we can find other symbolic elements such as rotten fruit and withering flowers which symbolize decay like ageing, bubbles and extinguished candles, smoke, watches, musical instruments and hourglasses which symbolize the brevity of life and suddenness of death. I love these paintings because of their serenity and symbolism. I can look at them for hours, looking at the items that are portrayed and giving meaning to them. They fascinate me.

This theme is not only found in paintings but also in poetry, literature and even music. Memento mori -remember that you are mortal- was a popular theme among Christian artists and writers. They wanted to make sure people were aware of inevitability of death and wanted to advise them strongly to be prepared all times for death. Why? In the 14th century there were recurring famines, the Hundred Years’ War took place in France and, most important of all, the Black Death raged through Europe. Many people lost their lives and death seemed to be just around the corner. People wanted amusement while it was still possible. The ‘danse macabre’ combined both. The earliest examples of such songs, which consisted of short dialogs between Death and each of its victims, can be found in the direct aftermath of the Black Death in Germany where it was known as the ‘Totentanz’ but also in Spain as ‘la Danza de la Muerte’ and in France as ‘la Danse Macabre’. Even today we have modern versions of these kind of songs like “Ad Mortem Festinamus” by Qntal.

Vita brevis breviter in brevi finietur,
Mors venit velociter quae neminem veretur,
Omnia mors perimit et nulli miseretur.
Ad mortem festinamus peccare desistamus.

Life is short, and shortly it will end;
Death comes quickly and respects no one,
It destroys everything and takes pity on no one.
To death we are hastening, let us refrain from sinning.

Ni conversus fueris et sicut puer factus
Et vitam mutaveris in meliores actus,
Intrare non poteris regnum Dei beatus.
Ad mortem festinamus peccare desistamus.

If you don't turn back and become like a child,
And change your life for the better,
You will not be able to enter, blessed, the Kingdom of God.
To death we are hastening, let us refrain from sinning.

Hannelore Glibert