vanitas

Vanitas is a type of symbolic art, specifically associated with still life paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries in Northern Europe. The word vanitas is Latin and it literally translates to "emptiness". More loosely, vanitas symbolize the meaninglessness of earthly life and the transient properties of vanity. Vanitas were commonly funerary art, often giving the message, "memento mori"(remember you must die). Vanitas typically use skulls as the subject matter, symbolizing the certainty of death; but also they often feature rotting fruit, symbolizing decay, bubbles expressing the suddenness of death and fragility of life. Some even portrayed peeled lemons or raw seafood, things that are pretty to look at but bitter to taste, which some would say is similar to life.