Etruscan Sarcophagus (325–250 BCE)
This is the sarcophagus of Vel Urinates, an Etruscan man who lived in the 4th century BCE. It offers a rare glimpse into both an individual’s identity and the Etruscans’ complex view of death.
Death
All things related to mortality, such as funerary items or memorials. This category explores how cultures honored the deceased and grappled with the mysteries of life’s end.
The Offering Table of Defdji (2305–2118 BCE)
The Offering Table of Defdji is an exceptional example of how the ancient Egyptians sought to sustain life beyond death.
Seated Mictlantecuhtli (1325-1521 CE)
This compact yet powerful sandstone figure shows Mictlantecuhtli, the Aztec god of death and ruler of the underworld known as Mictlan.
Death and Life (1910-1911 CE)
Gustav Klimt’s Death and Life (Tod und Leben), a painting that feels less like a finished statement than like a conversation the artist kept having with himself.
Hope II (1907–1908 CE)
Hope II shows a pregnant woman standing in a square field of gold-flecked darkness. Her head is bowed and her eyes are closed, as if she is praying for the child she carries.
The Three Ages of Woman (1905 CE)
The painting does not tell a story with a beginning and an end. It shows three stages of one female life at the same moment, as if time had been folded into a single image.
Grave Stele (c. 50 BCE)
This marble grave stele from southern Anatolia stands as an example of Hellenistic funerary art, combining architectural form, figural narrative, inscription, and symbolic imagery into a single, highly sophisticated monument.
Aged Phoenix (1905 CE)
A satire portraying a frail phoenix, blending surrealism and expressionism.
Sentence of Death (1908 CE)
A poignant Pre-Raphaelite oil painting, captures a young man’s anguish as he receives a sentence of death at the doctors office.