Visions of Decadence and Collapse

Thomas Cole: The Course of Empire

I: The Savage State, 1836

II: The Pastoral or Arcadian State, 1834

III: The Consummation of Empire, 1836

IV: Destruction, 1836

V: Desolation, 1836

Ruins

Ruins in an Oak GroveCaspar David Friedrich, 1810

Ruins by the SeaArnold Böcklin, 1880

Orgies Before the Collapse

The Death of SardanapalEugène Delacroix, 1828

The Romans of the DecadenceThomas Couture, 1847

Detail

Detail

Detail

The SuitorsGustave Moreau, 1852

Warning, 1907Alexander Benois

Doomed Cities

Scene During the Eruption of Vesuvius,Joseph Franque, c. 1827

The Last Day of PompeiiKarel Briullov, 1836

Detail

The Last Days of BabylonGeorges Rochegrosse, 1891

BabylonFrantišek Kupka, 1906

Terror Antiquus, 1908Léon Bakst

The City: Prelude Mikolajus Čiurlionis, 1909

Illustration for The Other SideAlfred Kubin, 1909

City Dreams: The KissMikhail Dobuzhinsky, 1916

In the Burning CityJosef Váchal, 1927

The “Dead City”: Fernand Khnopff’sBruges-la-Morte

Abandoned City, 1904

Canal, 1904

The Hospital of St. John, c. 1904

Bruges: A Doorway, 1904

Memory of Bruges: The Entry to the Beguinage, 1904

Visions of the End

FloodFeodor Bruni, 1845

Finis: The End of All ThingsMaximilian Pirner, 1887

Death Makes All Equalor Third Future

Max Klinger, 1888

Wild ChaseFranz von Stuck, 1889

Demon in the Streets (The Demon of War)Karel Hlaváček, 1896

WarArnold Böcklin, 1896

WarArnold Böcklin, 1896

Death Pursuing HumanityJames Ensor, 1896

The PlagueArnold Böcklin, 1898

FamineAlfred Kubin, 1902

WarAlfred Kubin, 1902

EpidemicAlfred Kubin, 1903

The Man-GodJean Delville, 1903

The Last AngelNikolai Roerich, 1912

The Torch of WarAlfred Kubin, 1914

Manslaughter, Film StillCecil B. DeMille, 1922