Skeleton / Self-Portrait 22

Skull Relic of Moissac
A 17th-century skull relic in the Abbey of Moissac, gave the inspiration for Skeleton / Self-Portrait 22. This skull is meticulously decorated with engravings and scripts, an important element in the veneration of the abbey’s patron saint.

A powerful awareness of the human body
Unlike Moissac’s skull, in Skeleton / Self-Portrait 22 I show what normally becomes visible only after death, a powerful awareness of who we are and what the human body is. After all, one’s own body is the only thing that human beings create entirely on their own from the moment the very first cell division is set in motion at conception, thanks therefore to my parents.

The ‘unmoved mover‘
According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, everything that is in motion in nature must be set in motion by something else . I also honour my own creative power.

“I, Caspar Berger of Amsterdam, copied my skull thus in immortal silver at the age of forty-seven years.”