Audrey Flack

1. Five objects that I see depicted in the painting are the pocket watch, the hourglass, the rose, the ripe and overripe fruit, and the half-burned candle which can represent the present but limited time she had to live. The make-up symbolizes the attempt to cover what has been stripped and aged from her over time, during the life she lived and based on how she lived it (Lane).#

2. The historical antecedent of the work is the Holocaust and trying to get readers to better understand what lead up to the deaths of people during this historical time.

The items shown are real life items, showing an emphasis of being abandoned at that moment, but never to be seen again because the people died in the Holocaust concentration camps (Lane)#. This particular picture of Marilyn Monroe is basically showing her real life items, left behind after her death, but representing her time that she did live through the mirror. It is showing how it is a reflection of her during the days of her life from how she lived her life, leading up to her untimely death; it is sort of looking at a timeline of her life.

3. Marilyn is like the painting Wheel of Fortune in our text because it contains many of the same objects as the Wheel of Fortune. In both vanitas, we see a mirror with a reflection, a portrait of a girl, lipstick and jewelry, a burning candle, and a calendar which can be similar to the significance of the pocket watch. In the Wheel of Fortune, the hourglass, calendar page, the rose, and the candle are supposed to represent time passing, while in Marilyn the candle and pocket watch, as well as the rose are there to represent time passing and leading to her death. Another similarity could be the make up and mirrors, which can indicate personal ways to make one's self appear to be someone that they are really not; a masquerade of the life they live, and person they wish to be.

4. Marilyn is different from Wheel of Fortune because Marilyn does not contain a skull, a calendar, a portrait of just one person but a little girl in the picture with someone else, and Marilyn contains a glass while Wheel of Fortune does not. Another difference could be the different objects used to represent the meaning of the portraits. In Wheel of Fortune there is a die and tarot card representing the roles of chance and fate in our lives (Getlein)#1. In Marilyn

5. Flack's vanitas paintings are like public art memorials such as the Vietnam War Memorial Wall, because they represent actual historic moments. For example, her typical painting of World War II. It is painting a vivid picture of tragic, but real life incidents that will never be forgotten. Although it is very sad it in a way, it pays tribute to all the people who lost their lives and teaches lessons through the work. For example, her other painting, representing what happened during the Holocaust is just like The Vietnam War Memorial Wall, because

...