Vanitas By Audrey Flack And Juan De Valdes

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Vanitas Paintings

Vanitas paintings are two dimensional compositions of symbolic content and iconography. The various objects used in the design of these paintings symbolize the brevity of life, the vanity of wealth and beauty, and the inescapable reality of death. This form of art was developed out of Northern Europe in the mid-16th century and through the 17th century. The word “vanitas” is Latin for “vanity.” Vanitas paintings are designed to remind its viewers of the verse in the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes that says all earthly things are “vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” Artists who painted vanitas wanted their viewers to remember that the wealth, beauty, and achievements that people desire and obtain will pass away and that death is a sure thing. Mortality is the message present in each vanitas painting and each artist expresses this meaning individually with the use of iconography, color, and various techniques.
Wheel of Fortune by Audrey Flack and Vanitas by Juan de Valdes are two vanitas paintings that are well known and are similar to each other in that many objects in the paintings illustrate the transience of life. Audrey Flack and Juan de Valdes painted their paintings in different time periods, 1977 and 1660, respectively; yet their works share similar characteristics. …show more content…

The other objects in the paintings are subordinate to the skull. Both paintings use common objects that allude to wealth, beauty, and knowledge, such as jewelry, coins, flowers, and books. The passage of time is portrayed by an hourglass, a clock, and a burning candle. Each object has a unique symbolic meaning that contributes to the overall message the artists wanted to convey. Both of these paintings exhibit asymmetrical balance and not symmetrical balance. The scale and proportion of the objects depicted are

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