Trail 2: Death – A deeper look | Contemplating Death
(yellow room)
1. a) Find the painting shown below. Write the title, artist and date below.
Title: Artist:Date:
A ‘still life’ is a work of art that usually shows a group of natural and/or man-made objects. Sometimes
artists use the objects as symbols, to convey a message to the viewer.
Look at the objects in the painting. Why do you think the artist has chosen them? Discuss your ideas
with a partner then complete the labels. Some examples have been suggested for you.
Bouquet of flowers
Hourglass
A device that uses sand to time
the passing of an hour. Perhaps
used to give the message that
time passes quickly and human
life is short.
Skull
A watch
Nautilus shell
Jewellery
A beautiful and expensive
collector’s item, once the outer
body structure of a living animal.
Perhaps used to show that all living
things, however beautiful, die.
Perhaps used to make the point
that beautiful and expensive
possessions are no use to us
when we die.
b) What other objects can you see in the painting? List two of them and explain what the owner of them
enjoyed doing.
(i)
(ii)
c) Choose two modern objects to represent and draw or describe your objects in the frames below.
(i) something that you enjoy doing
(ii) a possession that is valuable to you.
Youth Programme at Wellcome Collection
2. a) Some artworks and objects in the room use animals as symbols. Find the ones listed below and
complete the chart to explain what you think the animals are used to symbolise.
Title or object
Animal
‘Perched Bird’
Bird
‘St. Jerome in his cell’
Lion
Meaning
‘Fall and Redemption of Man’
Lamb
Japanese skull netsuke
Snake
Japanese skull netsuke
Wolf
b) F ind these artworks that use skulls or skeletons as symbols. Put a tick in the box when you’ve found
each one.
c) Look at the other artworks and objects in the room.
• Discuss with a partner what warnings you think all
the artists are giving about material possessions,
knowledge, fame and earthly pleasures.
• What message, or messages, do you think they are
giving about death?
•Why do you think many artists, and writers, use
death as a theme in their work?
3. Find the cabinet of ‘Ex Libris’ (bookplates).
These are all examples of ‘Memento Mori’ –
artworks that remind us we will all die. Design your
own Memento Mori bookplate in the frame opposite.
Trail 2: Death – A deeper look | The Dance of Death
(THE GREEN ROOM)
1. Find the picture below in a large book. Write the title of the book and the date it was printed.
Title: Date:
What are the skeletons a personification of? Circle the correct
answer:
love
death
life
faith
What message do you think the picture is giving? Tick the
answer, or answers, you agree with.
Life is short
Everyone must die
All life’s roads lead to death
Death respects no-one
2. a) Find the cabinet of terracotta figures dancing with
skeletons.
Why do you think these figures represent people of different
ages and of different status in life? Discuss your ideas with a
partner.
Sketch one of the human figures in the frame opposite. Label it
to describe the character e.g. a handsome young man.
b) Find three more examples of artworks in this room that show
skeletons dancing or playing. Complete the table below.
Title
Artist (if known)
Date
Country of origin
Discuss with a partner whether you find the dancing skeletons threatening or amusing.
Why do you think artworks like these have been popular for many centuries in many different cultures?
Write your answer below.
Youth Programme at Wellcome Collection
The artists in this room show death with many different ‘faces’.
3. a) Find the artworks shown below. Choose one of the adjectives from the box below, or one of your
own, to describe how you think death is personified in each one. Write it in the space underneath.
kindly
cruel
victorious
deceitful
terrifying
compassionate
friendly
violent
triumphant
exhausted
malevolent
mournful
mightybenignpowerful
defeatedmerciless
b) Look at the other artworks and objects in the room. Discuss with a partner how death is personified in
each one.
• Why do you think many artists, and writers, have personified death in their work?
• Do you think personifying death makes it easier to understand?
c) Using the ideas in the room, or ones of your own, create your own personification of death. Write a
description in the frame below. Include at least one simile or metaphor.
What does
Death look like?
What is it doing?
Is it carrying
or wearing
anything?
How do humans
who see Death
feel?
Trail 2: Death – A deeper look | violent Death
(THE pale grey ROOM)
1. Below is one section of a print. Find the complete print and write the title, artist and date below.
Title: Artist:Date:
How does the artist present the soldiers going into battle?
Circle all the words that you think apply.
brave
doomed
heroic
miserable
noble
foolish
proud
Death is bringing up the rear of the procession. Describe how it has been personified by the artist.
• Discuss with a partner what point you think the artist is making about war in this print.
Horseman 1
Personification
Use of symbols
Plague
Carries a bow to
represent sudden
death
Description of figure
Horseman 2
Horseman 3
Horseman 4
• Discuss with a partner how the artist has made this scene dramatic.
b) Look at the figures at the bottom of the print. What point do you think the artist is making about death?
Write your answer below.
Youth Programme at Wellcome Collection
3. a) Find the collection of black and white prints by the artist Otto Dix. Dix was a soldier as well as a war
artist. Which war do you think he fought in? Tick the correct answer.
The First World War
The Second World War
The Vietnam War
b) Find these prints. Put a tick in the box when you’ve found them.
These images are all of dead men. How do you feel when you look at them?
Circle all the words that apply to you and add ones of your own.
horrifieddisgustedshockedangryfascinated
other
c) Look at the other prints by Dix and discuss these questions with a partner.
• What message, or messages, do you think the prints give about violent death in war?
• Do you think creating the artworks helped Dix to come to terms with the horrors he witnessed during
the war? If so, how?
d) Choose the print that you think best conveys the horrors of war. Sketch it in the frame below.
Label it to explain: i) the subject matter (what the artist has chosen to draw);
ii) what you think makes it powerful or shocking.
Subject matter:
How do humans
who see Death
feel?
I think...
Trail 2: Death – A deeper look | Eros & Thanatos
(THE pale brown ROOM)
In Greek mythology, Eros is the god of love and Thanatos is the personification of death.
1. a)This is part of a small picture. Find the picture. Write the title, artist and date below.
Title: Artist:Date:
How is death personified in this drawing? Circle the correct
answer.
As a:
skull
skeleton
corpse
hooded figure
What is the young woman offering to death?
a flower
a book
a bird
money
b) Death is holding an hourglass – a device that uses sand to time the passing of an hour. What do you
think Rembrandt is using the hourglass and the flower as symbols of? Write your ideas below.
The hourglass symbolises
The flower symbolises
• Discuss with a partner why the artist has portrayed a young couple, rather than an old one.
• What message, or messages, do you think he is giving about death?
2. a) Find these drawings and diagrams. Put a tick in the box when you’ve found each one.
• Discuss with a partner what the purpose, or purposes, of these are.
• Do you think presenting human anatomy in these ways removes its connection with death?
b) Find the photograph of medical students with a dissected body with the title ‘When shall we meet
again?’ Explain why the dissection of human bodies is important to science and medicine.
• Would you donate your body to science? Tell a partner why or why not.
Youth Programme at Wellcome Collection
3. Look at the artwork in the middle of the room with the title ‘Are you still mad at me?’
WARNING You may find this very disturbing. If so, you do not have to discuss these questions.
• Look at the painting of the little girl crying. Discuss with a partner why you think death is sometimes
represented in art and literature in a sentimental way.
• What point do you think the artist is making through the sculpture of the dissected body?
• Why do you think humans are sometimes fascinated by horrific and gruesome images?
4. Find the print shown below. Write the title, artist and date below.
Title: Artist:Date:
Imagine that the figures are characters in a story. Write what they are thinking in the thought bubbles.
Try to make their thoughts vivid and dramatic.
• What struggle do you think the artist is representing in the picture?
• Find other artworks in this room that represent a similar struggle.
5. Find the cabinet of postcards.
What symbol do they use to represent death?
The postcards are all examples of ‘Vanitas’
– artworks designed to suggest that earthly
possessions, pleasures and achievements are
worthless as we will all die.
Design your own Vanitas postcard in the frame
opposite.
Use some of the same ideas that the artists have
used in the postcards, or invent your own.
Trail 2: Death – A deeper look | commemoration
(THE bright blue ROOM)
1. Find the group of ‘family portraits’. Write the name of the artist and his nationality below.
Artist:Country:
What message, or messages, do you think the artist is giving?
Tick all the answers you agree with, and/or add one of your own.
The people in the portraits are all dead.
Remember you will die.
We should remember our ancestors.
Our ancestors are connected to us.
Other
• Discuss with a partner the colours the artist has used in the portraits.
• What effect have these created?
2. Find the three human skulls.
Explain why the study of human skulls and skeletons is important to science and medicine.
Do you think it is wrong to display human remains in exhibitions? Give reasons for your answer.
3. Look at the wooden figure in the centre of the room.
Sketch it in the frame and answer the questions in the boxes.
What is it?
How was it used?
Youth Programme at Wellcome Collection
4. Find the artefacts below and complete the chart. Some examples have been completed for you.
Artefact
Country of origin
Description of object How, when or where it was used
Large papier-mache
skull sculpture
Perhaps in a ceremony remembering
the dead, or reminding people that
they will die.
5. Find these photographs. Put a tick in the box when you’ve found each one.
• Discuss with a partner what the artefacts and photographs show about how people in different cultures
deal with death. Are there any similarities?
• Have you ever been to a ceremony that commemorated the death of someone, or a group of people?
• Does your family display any photographs of relatives who have died or of your ancestors? Do you have
any other ways of remembering them?