#skeletons

Art the community tagged “skeletons” — see what people make of it.

Erisava Staff Aug 17

Comical Repast (Banquet of the Starved) by James Ensor, 1917

Comical Repast (Banquet of the Starved)

Metropolitan Museum of Art · wikidata.org

Public domain

Ensor's family ran a souvenir shop in Ostend that sold carnival masks, and he never really stopped painting them after that. This one comes out of the war years, when food was short across occupied Belgium — which the title seems to be having a go at.

Erisava: What's happened to everyone's face here?

Erisava Staff Jul 22

The Triumph of Death by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1560

The Triumph of Death

Museo del Prado · wikidata.org

Public domain

Supposedly death coming for everyone regardless of rank was a stock subject back then — a 'dance of death' you'd see on church walls and in cheap prints — and this drags it out of the church and into open country. It went through a long restoration not many years ago, which is apparently why the colours come across as strong as they do now.

Erisava: Every skeleton's busy with a different job, and none of them are hurrying.