Vanitas paintings convey the message that life is fleeting and transient, emphasizing the ephemeral nature of earthly pursuits through symbolic objects.
Vanitas paintings in the still life genre aimed to convey the message that life is fleeting and that earthly pursuits are transient and ultimately meaningless. These paintings typically featured symbolic objects like skulls, flowers, rotting fruit, clocks, and hourglasses to emphasize the ephemeral nature of life on earth.
The vanitas theme, popular in 17th-century Flanders and Dutch work, urged viewers to reflect on mortality and the vanity of earthly achievements and pleasures, often invoking feelings of repentance and contemplation.
Artists incorporated iconographic symbols like fruit, flowers, candles, and calendars to signify the passage of time and the worthlessness of worldly possessions after death, reinforcing the central theme of the vanitas genre.
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