Post-mortemportret van een vrouw met geopende ogen 1890 - 1910

This haunting post-mortem photograph of a woman with open eyes was taken by J. Siewe in Amsterdam. The gaze of the deceased, though lifeless, evokes a deep-seated unease. Her open eyes are a stark contrast to the closed eyes we typically associate with the dead, a symbol of eternal rest. This motif of open eyes in death can be traced back through history. In ancient Egyptian funerary rites, the eyes were carefully rendered on sarcophagi to ensure the deceased could still see into the afterlife. This impulse – to keep the connection to the living world – resurfaces throughout time. Think of the portraits in the Renaissance, or even Byzantine icons. Here, the open eyes challenge our notions of closure and the finality of death. The unsettling nature of this image engages us on a primal level, confronting our deepest fears about mortality. This photograph, a cultural artifact, serves as a memento mori, a reminder of the ever-present cycle of life and death that eternally confronts humanity.