Extinguished candle Symbolism

Mortality, the passing of former illumination (vanitas); light of certainty gone

Common Themes

Vanitas & worldly vanitySin & redemptionMedium reflexivity (art about art)Originality, authorship, and appropriationEveryday life as art (readymade, the ordinary)Class & inequalityGrief & mourning

Artworks Featuring This Symbol

Still Life with Bible by Vincent van Gogh

Still Life with Bible

Vincent van Gogh (1885)

Vincent van Gogh’s Still Life with Bible (1885) stages a stark encounter between a monumental family <strong>Bible</strong>, a snuffed <strong>candle</strong>, and Zola’s yellow‑covered <strong>La joie de vivre</strong>. The painting’s heavy, earthen brushwork and diagonal sweep forge a tense dialogue between <strong>inherited faith</strong> and <strong>modern experience</strong> <sup>[1]</sup><sup>[2]</sup>.