Thing of Ruin 

Erik Thor Sandberg’s painting, "Thing of Ruin" presents a chaotic scene filled with potent symbols of destruction and transformation. Here, we find a strange procession reminiscent of a medieval danse macabre, but with a twist: rather than skeletons, we see grotesque figures engaged in various acts of folly. Consider the figure atop the tree, a sort of scarecrow adorned with birds. This echoes ancient fertility symbols, like the Maypole, but inverted, hinting at decay rather than growth. Throughout art history, birds have often represented the soul or spirit, but here, they seem to feast on what remains, creating a disturbing commentary on mortality. We might also compare this to Bosch’s visions of hell, where figures are caught in absurd, eternal loops of torment. This reflects a deeper, subconscious anxiety about the transient nature of existence, resurfacing in Sandberg's unsettling tableau. It speaks to a collective memory of chaos and the cyclical nature of ruin and rebirth that continues to haunt our cultural psyche.