| Artist | Hugo Simberg |
|---|---|
| Year | 1896 |
| Type | Watercolor and gouache |
| Dimensions | 16 cm × 17 cm (6.3 in × 6.7 in) |
| Location | Ateneum, Helsinki |
The Garden of Death (Finnish: Kuoleman puutarha) (1896) is a painting by Finnish symbolist painter Hugo Simberg. Like many of Simberg's paintings, it depicts a gloomy, otherworldly scene. The central figures are reminiscent of the classic black-clad Grim Reaper, but paradoxically are tending to gardens; traditionally symbols of birth or renewal.
The Garden of Death is one of the few paintings whose symbolism Simberg explained; typically he preferred to let viewers come to their own conclusions. In a note on one sketch he described the garden as "the place where the dead end up before going to Heaven".[1][2]
The painting was a favourite subject of Simberg's and he made several versions using different techniques.[3] Among the most famous of those is the larger version of the painting that exists in the Tampere Cathedral, which Simberg painted frescoes for in 1905 and 1906.