Memento Mori

(Latin- “Remember that you will die.”)

 I learned recently from a colleague about the concept of Memento Mori in art.

It is a term for a work (literature, music, visual, or otherwise) which has within it a theme or icon of death. Not as a ghastly or morbid spectre, but a token meant as a spiritual reminder, a daily acknowledgment of mortality. A reminder to focus sharply on the moment, the gift, that we are alive today.

It has appeared as old as roman art and architecture, wound its way through the paintings of Christianity (which already had a strong  scent of fatality) and existed popularly through the early Victorian era, where newly invented photographs were often used to take death portraits of the newly passed. Those indeed are a bit ghastly, but the reason is the same. A little bit of appreciation, a little bit of acknowledging the fear and doubt that is present in the shadow of every forward thinking human mind, a little bit of hope.

It may be an old fashioned idea, but I realized, after this conversation we had, that I have one- my own Memento Mori, in my home.

It's in the best possible place for contemplation of general human temporariness. The loo. Precisely opposite the mirror, above the throne.

Each day during the course of various business I see, in all her mortally Arthurian gloom, Waterhouse’s The Lady of Shalott.

The Lady of Shalott, Waterhouse, 1888

The story is equally as fitting for Memento Mori as is the image. The Lady of Shallot was in the tower, and the tower was life eternal and safe, but also a dark prison. She could stay and live, or leave and die. So she leaves, and floats down the river to what she knows is her death  and experiences every moment of beauty and fear as she waits for the inevitable.

The image of course complements it perfectly- the Lily Maid herself like a stricken doe, looking as contemplative as she does frightened, but still and forward facing- not looking back like a curious Persephone, not twitching away from the fear like the woman under the nightmare.

The Nightmare, Henry Fuseli, 1781

Hades and Persephone

She faces it- sadly, and afraid, with acceptance, courage, and knowing she has made her choice, and, to her mind, chosen well, and that is what matters. This is my daily reminder- though I didn't know it for what it was. Why I hung it where I did, and why it mattered. Why I knew the story so well, and felt the image, and why it sprung to mind instantly as the idea and cultural significance of  Memento Mori was explained to me. It is something I paid unconscious homage to.

Would our current culture of instant gratification, selfishness, and grandiose indulgence benefit from a periodic gentle reminder that we are all human, will all die, and what we need concern ourselves with is living well, and with appreciation?

Do you have a Memento Mori in your home or bookshelf or playlist? What is it? Why does it matter to you? What devotions, if unconscious, does it inspire?