Untitled 

This untitled drawing by Zdzislaw Beksinski presents us with a haunting figure, crowned with a mitre, a symbol of authority, here emptied and decaying. This motif of the corrupted cleric echoes through art history, think of Bosch’s grotesque figures or Goya's critique of power. Here, the mitre sits atop a skeletal face, the eyes wide with a terror that mirrors our own. Notice also the pile of bones at the bottom of the drawing. The dance of death is never far. These symbols are not just historical; they tap into a collective unconscious. We see the return of the repressed—a fear of mortality and a questioning of authority. Beksinski masterfully evokes this dread, engaging us in a primal confrontation with our deepest anxieties. The symbols live, die and are reborn.