As you know, Jo, in some cultures (e.g. Mexican) the skeleton or skull head or mask represents inviting the ancestors to a celebration while recognizing the life-death continuum and having fun with it rather than hiding from and overly fearing it. This does NOT seem to be the case in this Rembrandt…
Interesting how we advocate for inclusion as a value and yet personally we’d love to be left out, excluded, invisibly marginalized when Death comes for us all…
Hmmm. Unusual perspective. Reminds me of an American doctor who said that in the US death is regarded as something to be avoided at all costs, whereas in the UK it’s treated as what happens to you at the end of your life.
I once painted a series called DEATH OUT FOR A SUNDAY STROLL. After all, I thought, Death is just doing his job, we shouldn’t hold it against him for doing it well, and the poor bastard doesn’t even get a day off, for whenever and wherever he goes, it’s work…
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