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characters inspired by the Mozart Requiem in D minor, Lacrimosa dies illa.
The origin of this series goes back to a night when, late at night, I let myself be carried away by repeated listening to Mozart's Requiem in D minor. Music has always conjured up visions in me: sometimes abstract, in the form of swirls of rhythm and matter, sometimes more figurative. As I immersed myself in this Requiem, I thought again of the ‘Blacks’ series by the artist Erwin Olaf: characters and settings inspired by the Baroque, dressed entirely in matt black, their eyes closed or veiled.
The ‘Danse Macabre’ series highlights the futility of social distinctions, swept aside by the fate that strikes indiscriminately, from the richest and proudest to the most modest and destitute. This allegory is addressed to the living, encouraging them to reflect on their condition. It soothes the humble and reminds the powerful that no wealth or rank can protect against death.
In ‘Danse Macabre’, angels of death and characters in sumptuous finery stand side by side, bearing witness to the fact that neither finery nor opulent clothes have been able to protect them from their fate. They all share the same fate: none of them ‘saw’ death coming.
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