Posthumous Remorse by Carlos Schwabe (Interpretation and Analysis)

Posthumous Remorse
Source: Pinterest

As the third day of Spooky Season (a.k.a. October) begins, I want to talk about the art of Carlos Schwabe, who created some of the weirdest and creepiest paintings in all of Western art.

The work of Schwabe—who was part of the Symbolist movement—ranges from bloody and horrifying to Romantic and touching. Yet, all his work exhibits a fiercely original mind and an expansive imagination. Like all Symbolists, Schwabe was interested in seeking a higher truth through art. Like the Romantics before them, Symbolists turned toward an emotionally rich and psychologically complex visual lexicon. However, while the Romantics often accomplished this through painting the natural world, Symbolists pursued a more abstract approach. As the name suggests, these artists used a symbolic language to convey an internal world of thoughts and emotions. Although Schwabe is well known as a Symbolist, his painting Posthumous Remorse is not so complex when it comes to symbolism.

Posthumous Remorse depicts a graveyard scene. Here, we see a procession of ghosts—all starkly white and dressed in flowing robes—passing through a graveyard. There is an air of civility here that is in contrast with the title of the piece. Instead of stern sorrow, these spirits almost seem to be participating in a festival of death.

The drawing itself is based on a poem by the famous French writer Charles Baudelaire, and Posthumous Remorse is an illustration for a poem of the same name, which was featured in Baudelaire’s famous volume of poetry Les Fleurs du mal (which translates to The Flowers of Evil). Baudelaire was interested in exploring the changing nature of beauty, and the poem “Posthumous Remorse” does just that. In the poem, the speaker imagines his lover facing death and describes how her beautiful body will decay under the tombstone. It’s what I would call EXTREMELY morbid.

The tomb, confidant of my infinite dreams
(For the tomb will always understand the poet)
Through those long nights from which all sleep is banned, will say:
"What does it profit you, imperfect courtesan,
Not to have known why the dead weep?"
— And like remorse the worm will gnaw your skin.
- Charles Baudelaire, “Posthumous Remorse”

The illustration, however, doesn’t have much to do with the actual content of the poem. In fact, as I noted above, the spirits of the dead almost seem to be happy. Rather than Baudelaire’s poem, the scene that Schwabe created reminds me of Neil Gaiman’s novel The Graveyard Book, which chronicles the life of a young boy who is raised by a community of friendly ghosts.

The illustration also makes reference to the Dance of Death motif, a common theme in medieval art. The Dance of Death serves to remind viewers that everyone is mortal and must face the consequences of death. It is a stark reminder to use your time on Earth well, a message that is timeless.

Disclaimer: I’m not an art historian or an expert on this topic. The above is my opinion, based on my interpretation of my foreknowledge of art and history. If I’ve done any additional research, I’ll note it above.