29 Oct THE SKULL

The skull is a very usual motif in the History of Art. It is the icon of the hesitant Hamlet of Shakespeare in literature, in the Dies Irae or the Macabre Dance in music, it appears constantly in the graffiti of all times, in the modern comic, in the flagships and tattoos, it was the symbol of famous flags of pirates, sects, cultures fascinated by the death…

In the religious painting of Christian inspiration, the skull acquires a special meaning as a symbol, warning and ultimate reality of the human being and their vanities; it is associated to the meditation, the asceticism and the apocalyptic in general.

Apart from these connotations, the skull as a simple structure has ever seemed to me a pictorial element of prime importance that I have included in my tables- without renouncing the meanings that the History has added- particularly by its formal values: architecture, volume, colorful, expressive effect, etc.

Seizing the proximity of the dates in which the death is so prevalent in our society and it is celebrated with festivities as  All Souls’ Day, inflows to the cemeteries, carnivals of Halloween and acts in which the skull is transformed in make, in caricature and, ultimately, in art, I have wanted to show here some of my paintings where the skull is an essential part of the artwork.