Death and the Gravedigger by Carlos Schwabe (Interpretation and Analysis)

Death and the Gravedigger
Source: Wikimedia Commons

The work of Carlos Schwabe can be described in one word: bizarre. Schwabe created some of the weirdest and creepiest paintings in all of Western art, ranging from the bloody and the horrifying to Romantic and touching scenes. Regardless of subject, however, all of Schwabe’s work exhibits a fiercely original mind and an expansive imagination.

Schwabe was associated with the Symbolist movement, which centered on the idea of seeking a higher truth through art. Unlike previous generations of artists who sought truth through realism, Symbolist artists used their own powers of imagination, dreams, and visions to explore the artist’s personal experience of reality. As such, Schwabe’s paintings are individualistic and experimental. He was particularly interested in exploring the idea of death, a subject he often tackled through the portrayal of women.

Death and the Gravedigger is a good example of this aspect of his art. It is an allegorical scene in which a winged woman dressed in black kneels above a man in a freshly dug grave. The gravedigger’s face is upturned to look at the woman; his expression is ambiguous. His face could express shock, rapture, or even adoration. The woman, an obvious personification of death, holds a green light in her hands, perhaps representing the soul of the gravedigger or some other recently departed person. The tips of her wings encircle the gravedigger’s head, perhaps indicating that she has come to take him to the next world.

A blanket of snow on the ground furthers the impression that death is in the air. Winter is traditionally associated with old age and the end of life. A border of snowdrops in the foreground and some new leaves emerging on the willow branches behind the woman lighten this impression. The new growth tells the viewer that spring is on the way.

Schwabe became interested in death as an artistic subject after his friend passed away. His fascination with the subject can be understood as an expression of his own grief or as a way of grappling with his own mortality. It is unclear whether or not the gravedigger in the painting fears death or if he welcomes it as a friend. There is a sense of anticipation within the piece; both the viewer and gravedigger are waiting to see what will happen next. It is this uncertainty that makes the painting interesting and gives the piece its gravitas.

However, it isn’t a wholly macabre or fatalistic piece. The snowdrops in the foreground and the new leaves budding on the willow promise life after death and the continuance of the endless cycle of birth and death. If anything Death and the Gravedigger is a gentle reminder that, while death is inevitable, it isn’t the end. Schwabe’s execution of the piece is masterful, expertly balancing the reassuring with the disconcerting and macabre.