Death has recently been animated by Pixar, interpreted by Noah Scalin, and beautifully illustrated in the works of Landis Blair, to name a few. Today, death has seen a resurgence in art and media. A typical form of memento mori in art is a still life form of painting called vanitas, or “vanity”. These paintings, the like one featured above, include symbols of mortality, such as skulls, flowers losing their petals and writing utensils. Sculptures of similar images are also easily found. Indeed, there are many depictions of the living and dead together as well. Because of the early Christian emphasis on the afterlife, and the fleeting nature of our lives on Earth, paintings depicting skulls the dead and dying funeral processions the afterlife, and the Grim Reaper are very common. Memento Mori Throughout History Memento Mori Artīecause of this concept’s religious significance, many early examples of memento mori objects are found in Christian art. With this history in mind, here are 5 different ways that the concept of memento mori has been used. As a Christian idea, memento mori also held religious significance, reminding Christians to turn away from vanity and obsession with the physical self, and focus on the immortal soul and the afterlife. In its original context, this ideology encouraged people to renounce or devalue worldly goods. In Plato’s Phaedo, he recounts the death of Socrates, and declares that practicing philosophy is “about nothing else but dying and being dead.” The placement of death at the centre of life carried into the early Christian period as well, when memento mori as a phrase started to be used. Originally a medieval Christian phrase, memento mori reflected the theory and practice of reflecting on the inevitability of death, and how the knowledge of our ultimate fate should influence how we live our lives. The idea of remembering our morality can be traced back to at least the time of Socrates. As we began to be distanced from death in a number of ways by the 20th century, memento mori fell out of fashion. Reminders of our mortality were literally carved in marble. Translated from the original Latin, Memento Mori means “remember that you will die.” This phrase once influenced art, architecture, philosophy, literature and more.
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