Danse Macabre: Death in Print from Dürer to Dix at LACMA

Danse Macabre: Death in Print from Dürer to Dix is currently on view at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in BCAM, Level 3, and will run through December 6, 2026. The exhibition examines how death, as a universal experience, has been a recurring subject in European printed arts over the centuries.

The inevitability of death emerged as a theme in European art as early as the 14th century, reflecting the realities of Medieval and early modern life. Plague, war, and famine meant that death could come for anyone, regardless of social status. This context gave rise to powerful visual motifs that have persisted in art history.

A central focus of the exhibition is the danse macabre, a visual allegory illustrating the inescapability of death through images of dancing skeletons. This motif was first widely popularized in woodcuts by German printmaker Hans Holbein the Younger in the early 16th century. Holbein’s small-scale illustrations were first printed and published in Lyons in 1538 as Les simulachres & historiees faces de la mort, and quickly spread throughout Europe.

The exhibition also features works such as Albrecht Dürer’s Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513), highlighting enduring iconography that underscores the fragile and impermanent nature of earthly life. The prints and books on display demonstrate how such imagery often resurfaces during times of societal transition or challenge, aided by the portability of the print medium.

Danse Macabre offers visitors an opportunity to engage with historical and artistic representations of death, tracing printmaking traditions from the Renaissance to the modern era.