Garden of Death (by Hugo Simberg) Ceramic Tile

This design features a painting by Finnish symbolist artist Hugo Simberg (1873–1917). Like many of Simberg's paintings, it depicts a dark, gloomy and otherworldly scene. The central figures are reminiscent of the traditional black-clad Grim Reaper, but they are tending a garden, which can be seen as symbols of birth or renewal. Hugo Simberg, in a short note discussing his painting, described the garden as "the place where the dead end up before going to Heaven". Some have also seen a certain element of humor in the juxtaposition between figures of death and such an everyday activity as gardening. The viewer is invited to reflect on philosophical issues of mortality. The original painting was completed in 1896 and it is currently housed in the Ateneum, an art museum in Helsinki, Finland.