Nirwana

In Buddhist and Hindu traditions, Nirvana is the ultimate liberation, a state of existence free from all suffering or desire. This painting, however, suggests that the artist did not think his own end would be quite so peaceful. The hovering vulture, falling figure, and melting sun painted in somber colors express the sense of desperation that the German poet Ernst Eckstein described in a poem: "And lonely sounds in the endless space/ The Song of everlasting dead" (Sidney Janis, They Taught Themselves, 1942).