Death: My Irony Surpasses All Others

1889

Lithograph on China paper. The Art Institute of Chicago

A pale, hollow-eyed figure rises from a coiling dark mass. One arm is raised behind its head, and dark tones fill most of the sheet.

The series follows no continuous story, and its plates do not simply illustrate the text. Each one pairs a caption with an image that stands on its own.
It is the third of six plates in an album dedicated to Gustave Flaubert.
Look at the top: small flowers trail through the figure's hair.
A 1913 catalogue of his prints lists it as number 97.
The Art Institute also owns a second impression, which it dates to 1888.

The plates respond to The Temptation of Saint Anthony, a novel by Flaubert. This was the second of three albums he devoted to the book, in 1888, 1889 and 1896.

Image: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0