10 Works of Art About Time

Tempus fugit, the Latins said; “time flies”.  And so it is. Beyond the recent theories of relativity, at all times there has been a specific concept of time. For the ancients it was something cyclical, which always returned to its starting point; For medieval men and women, it was linear and ended with the second coming of Christ.

For the Baroque era it was the great destroyer of beauty and ephemeral things, hence the great profusion of vanitas (vanities), works where elements were introduced that attested to the passage of time and its relentless destruction. For the romantics of the 19th century, on the other hand, time was the main builder of their nostalgia; a nostalgia for the past that translated into a taste for ruins and decadence.

10 famous works of art about time

It is difficult to choose between so many works that talk about the theme of time; this is a very recurring concept in the history of art. Below, we present some of the most relevant ones.

1. messenger of the Royal Pantheon of San Isidoro de León (11th century)

The Royal Pantheon of the kings of León is considered one of the most perfect jewels of Romanesque art on the peninsula. Not in vain has it been called the “Romanesque Sistine Chapel” for its magnificent frescoes, including a high-quality messenger.

What were medieval messengers? These were calendars whose rhythm was marked by the agricultural activities corresponding to each month. In the case of the messenger of San Isidoro de León, the months are located on the intrados of the arch that is next to the Pantocrator. The month of January includes, as is traditional in these representations, the god Janus, of Roman origin and who marked the beginning of the year. In the month of February, the coldest of all, an old man is depicted sheltering from the fire. The month of April, the splendor of spring, is personified by a young boy carrying flowers in his hands, and September is a farmer who gathers grapes…

In the Middle Ages, time revolved around God. The medieval Christian timeline was finite, since the time of men would end with the second coming of Christ. Parallel to this linear time, there was also another, inherited from antiquity, which saw time as something cyclical, related to changes in nature and the cycles of life.

2. Saturnby Peter Paul Rubens (1636)

You cannot understand time in art without talking about Saturn. This god was an ancient deity of the Italian peninsula who was later assimilated to the Greek god Cronus, from whom he took the attributes. Although Cronus was not the god of time, the similarity between his name and the Greek name for time has caused an assimilation between the two.

The myth says that Cronus/Saturn, Fearful of an oracle that had predicted that one of his sons would end up dethroning him, he devoured one by one all the offspring that his wife, Rhea, gave him. This legend has only emphasized the god as the personification of time, since time is unstoppable and devours to human beings.

Rubens painted this canvas for the Torre de la Parada, in Madrid. In it, he depicts Saturn as an old man, albeit still muscular in body (he was a titan after all), tearing the flesh off his newborn child. The strong theatrical light, so typical of the baroque, which illuminates both bodies and silhouettes them against the dark background, gives drama to the scene.

3. In ictu oculiby Juan de Valdés Leal (1672)

This dark canvas, which is among the most famous works of art about time, is paired with the so-called Finis Gloriae Mundi, also by Valdés Leal. Both paintings are in the lower choir of the Hospital de la Caridad in Seville, and were commissioned by the humanist Miguel Mañara to illustrate the two key concepts in the baroque mentality: the memento mori (“remember that you are going to die”) and vanitas (the vanity of the world).

Both concepts are closely linked to time: on the one hand, the memento reminds us that time passes inexorably and that death eventually comes to all of us; As for the second, it is a reminder of the transience of life and that everything beautiful disappears or deteriorates over time. In the case of the work in question, In ictu oculi could be translated as “in the blink of an eye”, a very clear allusion to the ephemeral nature of existence.

In Valdés Leal’s canvas we see a chilling skeleton rising on a globe (the death that dominates the earth); In his left hand he carries a scythe, while with his right he extinguishes the fire of the candle of life. Below, a mountain of elements that we cannot take with us with death, a symbol that everything is fleeting.

4. The Last Straw (The Merry Knight)by Judith Leyster (1639)

In a dark room, practically without any spatial reference, the painter Judith Leyster places two young people who drink and smoke happily. Their clothes are of warm and strident colors, and their faces are deformed by alcohol and euphoria. It’s a party scene, right?

Well… not really. Because Leyster places, behind the young man who is sitting on the left, a disturbing skeleton illuminated by the flame of the candle that he himself carries with him. It is about the flame of life; the life of the joyful young man that death is about to extinguish. The skeleton approaches the boy and seems to whisper something to him. Without a doubt, he is warning you: time is passing, and yours is numbered. To emphasize his message, he raises his right hand, where we see a ticking hourglass…

Judith Leyster, a faithful representative of her time, captures in this magnificent work the baroque vanitas, according to which time passes and nothing remains the same. Much less youth and pleasure…

5. Self-portraits by Rembrandt

If there is an artist interested in the changes that time imprinted on his face, it is Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669). Over forty years, the artist made no less than a hundred representations of himself (although his identity is questioned in some), so we can accompany you on the path of your life.

Rembrandt made his first self-portrait in 1628, when he was only twenty-two years old. The artist appears laughing, with a brushstroke still uncertain. Much better is the self-portrait from 1629, where we see the painter as a bust, with a very serious expression on his face. And so on; We can follow the traces of the painter’s features until 1669, the year of his death, when he painted his last self-portrait of him at the age of 63. A true testimony for posterity.

6. Time smoking a paintingby William Hogarth (1732)

William Hogarth is one of the most appreciated satirical artists of the English 18th century. Famous are his paintings and engravings that criticize the customs of England at the time. In this case, we find an allegory of the passage of time and how it destroys everything it touches, including art.

An old man with a long beard and muscular body (personification of time) is contemplating a painting resting on his easel. In his left hand he carries the scythe, identified with death, the end and disappearance, and with the other he holds a pipe. The smoke that comes out of it hits the canvas squarely and dirtyes and blackens it.

Obviously, Hogarth reflects on the effects that time has on things. Especially about the paintings; In this sense, the engraving is the satire of a current of thought of his time, promulgated especially by Addison, who maintained that time “painted” and improved the work. No, Hogarth seems to say with this engraving; Time does not improve the work, it only changes it and destroys it.

7. The Fates (Atropos)by Francisco de Goya (1820-23)

The Fates were three minor deities in Greek mythology who were responsible for time and human existence; They were the ones who decided how long a person’s life lasted. In the inventory of the assets of Goya’s son that was carried out in the 19th century, the painting is described as Atropos, in allusion to the name of the Grim Reaper who is responsible for cutting the thread of life.

Like the rest of the calls black paints, the chromaticism of this work is gloomy and dark, based on grayish, brownish and black tones. The three Fates are suspended in the air, as if levitating, and in the center of the group, a fourth figure with its hands tied catches our attention. A man whose life they are deciding?

8. The Dreamer (Oybin Ruins)by Caspar David Friedrich (1835)

During Romanticism, time goes from being something threatening to something beautiful. The romantic artist is the nostalgic artist par excellence; He feels at ease among the remains of a temple or a castle, and imagines for them an idealized past that has nothing to do with reality.

Friedrich was one of the most excellent artists in the art of painting remains of the past. We corroborate this with the aforementioned work, where we see a man sitting on the remains of what appears to be a Gothic cathedral. Through the gap in the arches of what remains of the window, we see a beautiful sunset (or sunrise), which surrounds the canvas in a special light. Friedrich captures the purity of religion and spirituality of ancient times, and in the process exalts the past of the German nation. The man, the dreamer of the title, stands as a perfect example of romantic sentiment.

9. Still life with overturned candleby Max Beckmann (1930)

Although the moment of splendor of the vanitas It was, as we have already mentioned, the Baroque, the reason for the passage of time and the transience of life was not forgotten in later painting. Not even in the 20th century, as demonstrated by this work by Max Beckmann, dated 1930 and which shows us a vanitas with avant-garde language.

Three candles rest on a table. Two of them are still on; the third has been knocked down and gone out. The mirror placed against the wall disturbingly reflects the fire of the two survivors: will they want to extend their lives against all natural laws? The variegatedness of the composition produces a claustrophobic effect that accentuates the feeling of restlessness and despair.

10. The Persistence of Memoryby Salvador Dalí (1931)

The famous Dalí melting clocks have their maximum expression in this work. In the words of the genius himself, they are the “camembert of time”, in relation to their flaccid consistency, like melted cheese.

The canvas (on the cover) is part of the famous method, established by Dalí, which he himself called “paranoid-critical.”, through which the artist captured visions and optical games that deceived and confused the viewer. In the painting at hand, time has lost all meaning: reality and the dreamlike mix, as in a dream. Scattered throughout the landscape, desolate as in a nightmare, half-broken clocks appear; On the left, ants flock to the only clock that seems to maintain its shape. In the center of the painting, a strange face with long eyelashes seems to symbolize the decay of death. In Persistence of Memory time is disrupted and takes on a new meaning.