Naakte vrouw kijkt naar een schedel in haar hand 1895

Armand Rassenfosse sketched "Naakte vrouw kijkt naar een schedel in haar hand" using red chalk around the turn of the 20th century. Rassenfosse lived during a period when the concept of the *femme fatale* fascinated many artists and writers. Here, a nude woman is depicted in a moment of quiet contemplation. Her gaze is fixed upon a skull she holds in her hands. In art, the skull is often used as a *memento mori*, a reminder of death and the fleeting nature of life. The woman’s nudity may relate to vulnerability, but it is the symbolism of the skull that asks the viewer to reflect on the transience of beauty and life. Rassenfosse positions this woman as self-aware and engaged in her own mortality, rather than as a passive object. The sketch invites a dialogue about beauty, mortality, and the narratives we construct around both. It transforms the traditional trope of the nude into a poignant, self-possessed meditation on existence.