Vanitas

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title: "Vanitas" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["christian-art-about-death", "iconography", "memento-mori", "visual-arts-genres"] description: "Genre of symbolic art" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanitas" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genre of symbolic art ::

::callout[type=note] the style of artwork ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Antonio_de_Pereda_-Allegory_of_Vanity-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" caption="''Vanitas'' by [[Antonio de Pereda"] ::

Vanitas is a genre of memento mori symbolizing the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death, and thus the vanity of ambition and all worldly desires. The paintings involved still life imagery of transitory items. The genre began in the 16th century and continued into the 17th century. Vanitas art is a type of allegorical art representing a higher ideal. It was a sub-genre of painting heavily employed by Dutch painters during the Baroque period (c.1585–1730). Spanish painters working at the end of the Spanish Golden Age also created vanitas paintings.

Etymology

The word vanitas comes from Latin and means vanity. In this context, vanity means pointlessness, or futility, not to be confused with the other definition of vanity. Vanity is referenced in the Hebrew Bible in Ecclesiastes 1:2, "Vanity of Vanities, saith the preacher, all is vanity". In some versions vanity is translated as "meaningless" to avoid the confusion with the other definition of vanity, that being inflated pride in oneself or one's appearance. The message is that human action is temporary and faith is forever. Memento mori is a similar theme which when translated from Latin means, "remember that you will die."

History

A group of painters in Leiden began to produce vanitas paintings in the beginning of the 16th century and they continued into the 17th century. Vanitas art is an allegorical art representing a higher ideal or containing hidden meanings. Vanitas are formulaic and use literary and traditional symbols to convey mortality. Vanitas often have a message that is rooted in religion or the Christian Bible.

In the 17th century, the vanitas genre was popular among Dutch painters. The paintings often have symbolic imagery which attempts to convey the message that all people die, encouraging the viewer to think about the futility of earthly pursuits. The well-known Spanish vanitas refer to Spain's rulers and the politics of Spain. It was popular to include skulls in vanitas paintings as a symbol of the ephemeral nature of life.

Outside visual art

• The first movement in composer Robert Schumann's 5 Pieces in a Folk Style, for Cello and Piano, Op. 102 is entitled Vanitas vanitatum: Mit Humor.
• Vanitas vanitatum is the title of an oratorio written by Italian Baroque composer Giacomo Carissimi (1605–1674).
• Vanitas is the seventh album by British extreme metal band Anaal Nathrakh.
• Vanitas is the name of a character from the Kingdom Hearts franchise.
• Vanitas is the name of one of the two main characters from Vanitas no Carte.
• Vanitas is the motto of The Harvard Lampoon.

In modern times

• Jana Sterbak, Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic, artwork, 1987.
• Alexander de Cadenet, Skull Portraits, various subjects, 1996 – present.
• Matthias Laurenz Gräff, various paintings of Vanitas and Memento mori, 2017 – present.
• Philippe Pasqua, series of skulls, sculpture, 1990s – present.
• Anne de Carbuccia, One Planet One Future, various subjects, 2013 – present.

References

Notes

Citations

References

1. "Bible Gateway passage: Ecclesiastes 1 - New International Version".
2. Plante, Corey. (July 11, 2018). "'Kingdom Hearts 3' Basically Requires That You Play These Two Games First".
3. Frank, Allegra. (January 28, 2019). "All the Kingdom Hearts backstory you need to fully understand Kingdom Hearts 3".
4. [https://veryimportantlot.com/de/news/blog/vanitas--was-wo-wann very important lot. Vanitas]
5. "Philosophie et poésie : le Livre de l'Ecclésiaste".
6. (14 July 2020). "Vanitas: Dutch Master Paintings Explained". The Collector.
7. (3 January 2023). "The Fascinating Traits of Spanish Vanitas Paintings". The Collector.
8. (12 February 2022). "Vanitas: Paintings by the Dutch Old Masters Inspired by Life and Death". My Modern Met.
9. "Vanitas".
10. (2015). "Chamber music : an extensive guide for listeners". Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
11. (2015). "The Bible in music : a dictionary of songs, works, and more". Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
12. (2017). "Rock in a hard place : music and mayhem in the Middle East". Zed Books.
13. (1926). "The Harvard Lampoon Fiftieth Anniversary, 1876-1926". Harvard Lampoon.
14. Morrissy, Kim. (July 4, 2021). "Aniplex Online Fest 2021: Making of The Case Study of Vanitas".
15. (2020). "Kingdom Hearts III: The Novel, Vol. 2 (light Novel)". Yen Press.
16. Rowley, Storer H.. "'Flesh dress' is rotten art, some Canadians say". The Spokane-Review.
17. "Artist Information and Statement | Alexander de Cadenet".
18. (14 May 2010). "Divertissements macabres". [[Les Échos (France).
19. Zargani, Luisa. (2016-01-28). "Anne de Carbuccia's Moments in Time". WWD.
20. (2016). "Art and music in the early modern period : essays in honor of Franca Trinchieri Camiz". Taylor & Francis.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::