Who painted The Triumph of Death?
The Triumph of Death was painted by Pieter Bruegel the Elder around 1562. It is an oil panel painting now held at the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
Questions about The Triumph of Death
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Where is The Triumph of Death located?
The Triumph of Death has been in the Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1827.
What does The Triumph of Death depict?
The Triumph of Death depicts an army of skeletons attacking the living across a scorched, barren landscape, with fires burning in the distance and the sea filled with shipwrecks. People of every social rank, from peasants and soldiers to a king and a cardinal, are killed indiscriminately. The painting also catalogs execution methods from the period, including the breaking wheel, the gallows, and burning at the stake.
What visual traditions does The Triumph of Death draw on?
The Triumph of Death combines the northern European woodcut tradition of the Dance of Death with the Italian conception of death as military conqueror on a vast scale. Classic examples of the Italian tradition survive as frescoes in the Palazzo Sclafani in Palermo and the Camposanto Monumentale at Pisa.
What classical mythology appears in The Triumph of Death?
Bruegel embedded references to the three Greek Fates in the painting. One woman, his interpretation of Atropos, holds a thread about to be cut by her own scissors; another carries the spindle and distaff of Clotho and Lachesis. A man with a grinding stone around his neck about to be thrown into a pond echoes Matthew 18.6 and Luke 17.2.
Which books, albums, and films have featured The Triumph of Death?
Black Sabbath used The Triumph of Death on the covers of their 1977 greatest hits compilation. William S. Burroughs placed it on the cover of Cities of the Red Night in 1981, and Don DeLillo featured it in Underworld in 1996. Sylvia Plath, Anne Rice, Andrew McGahan, and Juice WRLD have all engaged with the painting in major works.