Abstract:

Two of the traits that all humans share in common are the fact that they are born and eventually all die. Although discussions about birth may seem interesting, there has always been a reluctance and fear of death. It is as important to understand the issues and complexity of death as it is to understand the issues of life in every culture around the world. In the West, it has been considered important to reach death as a good person with religious references, especially after people live a righteous life and lead a virtuous life. Due to the uncertainties of life and the temporary nature of wealth, people have had to develop some strategies to cope with death. In Western Painting, the use of signs and symbols related to death and mortality in parallel with the Memento Mori tradition has started to be used since the 1300s, and has survived to the present day by undergoing changes in accordance with the understanding of their own periods. In this context, the purposes of the visual representations used as a reminder of death and mortality in Western Painting Art, what subjects they contain, which signs and symbols are used are discussed and examined in various aspects. In the research, it was seen that the signs and symbols used in Western Painting Art about death and mortality emerged due to reasons such as epidemics, wars and famines that affected their own periods, and that the artists produced intensively on the subject in the process; It has been concluded that these signs and symbols under different names have changed with social, economic and religious influences.