Studio Defaux

Home
Italia
Roma, Lazio
Studio Defaux

Indicazioni Sito Web

A textural exploration of culture.
1st Collection: Memento Mori. Join us on this journey.

18/09/2026

The Torajan people of Sulawesi, Indonesia have unique traditions around death. Their dead are treated with an intimacy that many westerners might be shocked by.

During ma’nene ceremonies, the dead are exhumed, washed, clothed and talked to as if they were still here, and in Torajan belief, they are still with us.

I think that by having such a close relationship with death, one can certainly learn not to fear it like our modern culture does. This is really the philosophy of memento mori in practice.

#💀

16/09/2026

The skull traditionally attributed to St. Valentine, preserved in a gilded reliquary in Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome.

A relic, a devotional object, and of course, a memento mori: the presence of death made visible within the sacred space.

#💀

14/09/2026

Damien Hirst is quoted saying “every work that has ever interested me is about death”. so it’s understandable why he made “For the Love of God” - an 18th century skull he covered in diamonds.

A true memento mori artwork, there are meanings within meanings in this piece.

#💀 #💎

28/08/2026

Frida Kahlo’s urn in the Casa Azul in Mexico City really got me thinking. Her ashes were just there on a shelf and most people just walked right past it. It seemed so unassuming, but I think it shows how much her life affected her sense of ego.

Living with as much pain as she did surely affected the way she looked at life and death. She had to make the most of every moment of joy and try to turn her pain into beauty. I think she was the epitome of the memento mori philosophy and I find so much inspiration in the way she lived her life.

#💀 #🖤

24/08/2026

8 days before she died Friday Kahlo painted a Memento Mori - but in it, we see watermelons full of life. This is a paradox of memento mori captured in an image.

#🍉 For Frida, the watermelons were a celebration of the life she knew was ending. A life of immense suffering but also joy and creation. I hope that on my deathbed I feel as defiant and hopeful.

22/08/2026

Some of the images that inspired the symbols in this Memento Mori collection. These Vanitas paintings were hugely popular in the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century. They were meant to remind viewers of the brevity of life, certainty of death, and the emptiness of worldly vanity.

Vanitas Still Life by Jacques de Gheyn II

They employ these symbols to convey the essence of Memento Mori philosophy:

Skulls: Stand for death and human mortality.

Hourglasses and clocks: Show the rapid, unstoppable passage of time.

Extinguished candles or smoking lamps: Indicate life going out and the end of all things.

Wilted flowers and rotting fruit: Represent aging and the temporary nature of beauty.

Books, maps, and scientific tools: Highlight the limits of human knowledge and earthly achievement.

Musical instruments and w**e glasses: Depict short-lived earthly pleasures and fun.

Coins and jewelry: Mock the pursuit of wealth, which cannot be kept after death.

#💀

Memento Mori by Frans van Everbroeck

Carondelet Diptych by Jan Gossaert

Vanitas by Edwaert Collier

Vanitas Still Life by Pieter Claesz

20/08/2026

The same Hans Holbein the Younger I mentioned in my video about his Danse Macabre prints painted “The Ambassadors”, one of the National Gallery’s most famous paintings.

In it, Holbein hid an anamorphosis of a skull. Many debate exactly why he did this, but we can undeniably say that this is a

#💀

17/08/2026

Hans Holbein the Younger made these Danse Macabre-inspired woodblock prints between 1523 and 1525. They are a series of scenes in which various victims meet Death.

Each image contains a small hourglass to signal the approaching end… see if you can spot them. 👀⏳

Every print is unique, this particular one shows The Child being taken away from its mother.

They are all examples of Memento Mori

#💀 #⏳

The Knight

The Noble Lady

The Astrologer

The Merchant

The Nobleman

The Abbess

The Abbott

The King

The Mendicant Friar

The Old Woman

The Physician

The Peddlar

The Pope

The Rich Man

The Soldier

10/08/2026

The Danse Macabre - A Medieval Memento Mori.

After the Black Death, the culture around death changed forever and new art forms came to life.

#💀

06/08/2026

The origins and evolution of Memento Mori over time and across art, philosophy, and culture. #💀

Indirizzo

Rome
00186

Sito Web

http://studiodefaux.com/

Notifiche

Lascia la tua email e sarai tra i primi a sapere quando Studio Defaux pubblica novità e promozioni. Il tuo indirizzo email non verrà utilizzato per nessun altro scopo e potrai annullare l'iscrizione in qualsiasi momento.