The Dying Dandy

The Dying Dandy (Swedish: Den döende dandyn) is a painting by Nils Dardel, painted in 1918, and today it is part of the collection of Moderna Museet in Stockholm. The work is characterized by Nils Dardel's use of intense colors and undulating forms, and is considered symbolic of superficial beauty. The form shows the influence of Matisse. Though situated like any deathbed portrait, the dying man is not looking piously towards the heavens, but into a mirror, while surrounded by mourners. A man crying into a handkerchief behind him is looking away while three women attend to the body. The meaning of the blackened mirror is ambiguous; title seems to suggest that the dying man's last thought was for his appearance, possibly meant as a parody of the deathbed portrait as a genre. In an earlier version, the dandy holds a fan and his eyes are completely closed. Dardel was no stranger to this genre and had earlier painted his Funeral in Senlis which shows how elaborate the catafalque could be at the time.