Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
Vanitas, -atis, f. (L)- falsity, unreality, deception, untruth, bragging, lying, vanity, worthlessness, frivolity
One of my favorite painting styles is the Vanitas still life, a medieval kind of symbolic art that captures the transience of the mortal life, the futility of material possessions, and the inevitability of death. Wikipedia article, I couldn't have said it better myself. Some examples:
David Bailly. Self-Portrait with Vanitas Symbols, 1651.
Oh great, this is cluttered, this is as messy as a dorm room desk, but there are always some things that I don't understand, so many different layers of complexity. The man holding a portrait of himself as an old man, for example. His expression is unreadable. What is he feeling? Does he know that he is going to die?
Charles Allen Gilbert (1873-1929). All is Vanity. This image is more popular in the optical illusions circuit, I'm afraid. I think this painting would be better if the mirror were broken.
An artist by the name of Alain Khadem has done some 21st-century retakes on the vanitas style to fit the "absurdities of our fast-paced modern life. I especially like the one with the Molotov cocktail, and Overacheiver/Underacheiver.
/absinthe.
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