The Triumph of Death facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Triumph of Death
Artist	Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Year	c. 1562
Medium	oil on panel
Dimensions	117 cm × 162 cm (46 in × 63.8 in)
Location	Museo del Prado, Madrid

The Triumph of Death is a famous oil painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. He painted it around 1562. Today, you can see it at the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain. The painting shows a world where death takes over everything.

What the Painting Shows

This painting shows a wide view of a land that looks empty and burned. An army of skeletons is causing chaos everywhere. Far away, you can see fires burning, and the sea is full of broken ships.

There are only a few trees left, and they have no leaves. Fish are rotting on the edges of a pond filled with bodies. An art expert named James Snyder said the painting shows "scorched, barren earth, devoid of any life." This means the land is burned, empty, and nothing alive can be seen.

In this scary scene, many skeletons are moving towards living people. Some people are running away in fear, while others try to fight back, but it's no use. In the front of the painting, skeletons are pulling a wagon full of skulls. In the top left, other skeletons are ringing a bell. This bell often means the end of the world. People are being forced into a trap shaped like a coffin. Skeletons on horseback are using a scythe (a large curved blade) to strike people. There are four horses ridden by skeletons in the painting. This might remind viewers of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the Bible, who bring war, famine, plague, and death.

The painting shows all kinds of people being taken by death. There are farmers, soldiers, rich nobles, a king, and even a cardinal (a high-ranking church leader). This shows that death comes for everyone, no matter how important they are.

A skeleton is playing a hurdy-gurdy, a musical instrument, as if making fun of human happiness. The wheels of its cart are crushing a man, showing that life can end suddenly. A woman has fallen in the path of the death cart. She holds a thin thread that is about to be cut by scissors in her other hand. This is Bruegel's way of showing Atropos, one of the three Fates from Greek myths who cuts the thread of life. Nearby, another woman holds a spindle and distaff, which are tools for spinning thread. These are old symbols for how fragile human life is. This represents Clotho and Lachesis, the other two Fates who spin and measure the thread of life.

A hungry dog is near a mother and child who have fallen. A cardinal is being led away by a skeleton wearing a red hat, making fun of the cardinal's high position. A dying king's gold and silver coins are being taken by another skeleton. This skeleton holds an empty hourglass, warning the king that his time is running out. The king, who was foolish and loved money too much, still tries to grab his useless wealth, not thinking about what happens after death. In the middle, a religious traveler is attacked by a skeleton-robber for his money. Above them, skeleton-fishermen are catching people in a net.

In the bottom right, a dinner party has been interrupted. The people are trying to fight the skeletons, but it's useless. They have pulled out their swords. The court jester (a joker who entertained kings) hides under the table, also without hope. A backgammon board and playing cards are scattered. A skeleton wearing a mask is pouring out wine. The only food left from the meal are some pale bread rolls. Above the table, two women are shown. One is struggling as a skeleton holds her. The other woman looks horrified as a skeleton brings another "dish" to the table.

In the bottom right corner, a musician plays a lute while a woman sings. They don't notice that a skeleton is playing along behind them. The skeleton knows that the couple cannot escape death. A cross stands in the middle of the painting.

The painting also shows parts of everyday life in the mid-1500s, when the risk of plague (a serious disease) was very high. You can see details of clothes and games like cards and backgammon. There are also musical instruments and an early mechanical clock. The painting includes scenes like a funeral service and different ways people were executed back then. For example, there's a breaking wheel, a gallows, and someone about to be beheaded. In one part, a human is being hunted by a skeleton and its dogs.

In another scene on the left, skeletons are pulling victims down to drown them in a pond. A man with a grinding stone around his neck is about to be thrown into the pond. This might remind people of verses from the Bible, like Matthew 18:6 and Luke 17:2. On a bridge nearby, a skeleton is about to strike a victim with a Falchion (a type of sword).

Bruegel combined two different art styles in this painting. One is the Northern European tradition of woodcuts showing the Dance of Death, where death leads people away. The other is the Italian idea of the Triumph of Death, which shows death as a powerful force. Famous examples of this Italian style can be seen in old paintings called frescoes in places like the Palazzo Sclafani in Palermo and the Camposanto Monumentale in Pisa.

The Painting in Popular Culture

• The heavy metal band Black Sabbath used this painting for the front and back covers of their 1977 album, Black Sabbath Greatest Hits.
• In the 1996 novel Underworld by Don Delillo, the head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, becomes very interested in the painting and gets a copy of it.
• The painting is important in The Rich Man's House, a 2019 novel by Australian writer Andrew McGahan. The story uses the painting's idea that death is something everyone faces. The rich man in the book buys the painting, and it hangs in a special place in his house.
• The painting is also described as a large mural in "The Theatre des Vampires" in Anne Rice's 1976 novel, "Interview With The Vampire."

See also

In Spanish: El triunfo de la Muerte para niños

• List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
• 100 Great Paintings
• The Chariot of Death, painting by Théophile Schuler

Images for kids

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  Jan Brueghel's 1597 version of The Triumph of Death

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  1628 version of The Triumph of Death