The painting ‘Mors Imperator’ ignited a significant scandal in 1887 due to widespread fears that it was mocking the German Kaiser. More than a century later, this controversial artwork is now finally on public display in a state museum.
The piece dramatically depicts a formidable skeleton, cloaked in ermine fur and crowned with a jagged iron circlet. With one foot planted firmly on a globe, it nonchalantly topples a royal throne with a subtle yet powerful flick of its ivory wrist. Titled ‘Mors Imperator’ (Latin for ‘Death is the Ruler’), this 1887 symbolic painting by German artist Hermione von Preuschen was originally intended to convey the ephemeral nature of fame and political power.
However, contemporary authorities feared the artwork could be interpreted as a direct slight against the then-90-year-old German Emperor Wilhelm I. This apprehension led to its controversial rejection from the Berlin Academy of the Arts’ annual exhibition that year.