Memento mori is a term that refers to a variety of elements in art that serve to remind the audience of their own impending death. It could be a large element, such as a small skull in the corner of a painting, or a small element, such as a small skull in the corner of a painting. The phrase means “Remember you are mortal” in Latin.
While these elements are sometimes thought to convey the message “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may die,” they are more often a reminder of the vanity of earthly glory and pleasure in European Christian art, where they abound. Still life paintings were once known as Vanitas because they frequently included a memento mori of some kind. Skulls, hourglasses, snuffed candles, flowers or fruit past their prime, and insects are common figures in such paintings. They’re frequently incorporated into elaborate still lifes in a subtle and deft manner.
Anything that refers to the passage of time can be considered a memento mori, and many public clocks used to include phrases like Tempus fugit, which means “time flies,” or used an automated figure of Death to strike the hour bell. Skulls and other images were frequently adorning personal watches. Other small memento mori were intended to be worn as a reminder of one’s mortality. A medieval carving in the shape of a miniature coffin that opens on a scene of Dives, or the rich man, in Hell is on display at the Cloisters museum in New York City.
Funerary art is another popular genre for memento mori. Headstones or memorial statues depicting skulls or skeletons can be found in many cemeteries. Tombs in Europe during the late medieval era were sometimes topped with an image of the deceased’s decayed corpse, rather than his or her living body, as was common in earlier eras.
Memento mori can be found in literature, music, and visual art. Although it is not as popular as it once was, examples can still be found in the modern era, especially in the literary and musical realms. The death clock, a computer toy that calculates and counts down to the user’s death hour, is reminiscent of earlier personal memento mori clocks and is easily found online.