vanitas

  • Vanitas Painting, Death, and Decadence
    Art History • Movements and techniques
    Vanitas Painting, Death, and Decadence

    As a subgroup of still life, Vanitas painting is a category of art that aims to show the temporary nature of life, the futility of pleasure, and the inevitability of death. Vanitas painting often feature symbols of wealth, death and ephemerality. There are two main categories of Vanitas painting: those which symbolize death with objects such as skulls, candles and withered flowers and…