Skull with Cigarette 1917

Curator: Let's turn our attention to a compelling drawing: M.C. Escher’s “Skull with Cigarette” from 1917, rendered in graphite. Editor: Immediately striking! There's a playful macabre feeling...almost like a grim joker. The top hat juxtaposed with the skull is a real power move. Curator: It’s hard to ignore that tension, isn’t it? The hat certainly elevates the skull, almost satirically. The cigarette, jutting jauntily from the teeth, further enhances this somewhat sardonic portrayal of death. What symbolic readings do you glean? Editor: The skull, obviously, is our "memento mori," but Escher gives it this added layer of swagger with the cigarette and dapper headgear. He's personifying death, perhaps hinting at society’s flirtation with it. Or, more simply, the transience of earthly pleasures—a bit of vanitas there. Curator: That interpretation resonates with Escher’s broader themes, don’t you think? A young man exploring the ephemeral, even the absurd. I feel it’s an introspective piece about confronting one’s mortality with both anxiety and dark humor. He was just 19 at the time! Editor: Incredible! That imbues it with so much more weight. The contrast between the smooth hat and textured skull further amplifies that reading; like two sides of the same coin of existence. Curator: Right, the textures add dimension. The relatively simple graphite work actually belies a much more complex interplay of ideas regarding mortality and self-perception. And the added twist? Maybe he knew something we didn't about smoking habits! Editor: I love it! From youthful grappling with existential themes to potent symbolism delivered with irreverent humor...it’s a tight little package of life and death. Curator: It’s a perfect reflection on a young man considering life and death during a particularly brutal war era; still impactful after more than a century.