Cemetery Art

From Wikipedia: 

The Kiss of Death (El petó de la mort in Catalan and El beso de la muerte in Spanish) is a marble sculpture, found in Poblenou Cemetery in Barcelona. The sculpture is thought to have been created by Jaume Barba, although others have claimed that its idea was conceived by Joan Fontbernat. The sculpture depicts death, in the form of a winged skeleton, planting a kiss on the forehead of a handsome young man. The sculpture elicits varying responses from the people who view it: is it ecstasy on the face of the young man, or resignation?

The sculpture is found above the grave of the textile manufacturer Josep Llaudet Soler. and was created in 1930. The tomb underneath contains the inscription:
"His young heart is thus extinguished. The blood in his veins grows cold. And all strength has gone. Faith has been extolled by his fall into the arms of death. Amen."

The sculpture is often said to have inspired The Seventh Seal, by Ingmar Bergman.

Rather than depicting death as a winged angel the sculptor instead chose a skeleton. The eroticism of the kiss is hard to escape - the sculpture shows youth welcoming death as a partner. The sculpture is at once romantic and horrifying, which leads to the varying views of the people that view it. It attracts and repels at once, the urge to touch combines with the desire to flee. 

Bizarre.

A female version used as a prop made from 2 wooden bases covered in foam, a rigid foam female body with a wig draped and a pose-able skeleton with attached foam carved wings. 

See the making of this sculpture by clicking on: 

https://www.instructables.com/id/Kiss-of-Death-Monument/ 

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Grave of musician and actor Fernand Arbelot, buried in the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris. The tombstone shows him holding his wife’s face as he wished to gaze at her face for eternity.  

Creepy.

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Pool table gravestone at Floral Hill Cemetery in Illinois 

Nutty.

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Child in a crib headstone from Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri 

Also creepy.

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The life-size BMW M3 headstone of Steve Marsh, a huge fan of BMW automobiles. Located at Manor Park Cemetery, East London. 

Car nutter.

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Grave of Russian comic actor and clown, Yuri Vladimirovich Nikulin. He was also the theatrical manager of the old Moscow Circus which is now referred to as Nikulin Circus in his honour. 

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Marble computer headstone 

Geek.

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Empty chair tombstone located at Hope Cemetery in Barre, Vermon 

Thoughtful to provide a seat for mourner visitors.

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Located at the Alter Friedhof cemetery, this grave belongs to Caroline Walter who died in 1867 due to tuberculosis. After her death, her sister hired a sculpture to create a life like sculpture of Caroline, as if she had fallen asleep in her bed while reading a book. 

No waking from this sleep.

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Gravestone from graveyard of Basilica di San Miniato al Monte in Florence 

They look happy.

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Gladys and her piano memorial in the City of London cemetery 

Uncomfortable bed and pillow for the big sleep.

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Headstone in Mexico 

Yet he's up there, rather than down there???

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Epitaph on the tombstone of John Laird McCaffery, buried in Montreal. Organised by his ex-wife and mistress together. 

Love it.

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These are the graves of husband and wife Colonel van Gorcum and Lady van Aefferden, who are still holding hands more than 150 years after their death. Their marriage in 1842 was a great scandal – Lady van Aefferden was an aristocratic Catholic, while the Colonel was a Protestant with no noble connections. When Colonel van Gorcum died in 1880, he was buried in the Protestant cemetery in Roermond. Knowing that she would be buried in the Catholic cemetery, his wife made it clear that she did not want to be buried in her family's burial plot. Instead she chose a burial site right by the wall dividing the two cemeteries, as close to her husband’s grave as possible. Atop their headstones, two hands meet across the wall, proving that love really doesn’t end with death. 

Awww.

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Above is the grave of Georges Rodenbach, a 19th Century Belgian writer, in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. From his tomb, a bronze statue of Rodenbach can be seen emerging from the grave, clasping a single rose in his hand. Rodenbach’s best-known work is a symbolic novel called Bruges-la-Morte, the story of a widower living in Bruges, struggling to cope with grief in the wake of his wife’s death. 

Horror movie image , , , "When the Dead Rise"

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The above unusual headstone was made by artist Niki de Saint Phalle for her assistant, Ricardo Menon, who died aged 37 in 1989. The epitaph at the cat’s feet reads: “To our friend Ricardo who died too soon, beautiful, young and loved.” It is located in Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris, is 1.5 metres in height and is known as Ricardo’s Cat. 

Why?

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The grave of Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev was one of the 20th Century’s best-known figures in ballet and the famous dance partner of British ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn, is decorated with what looks like a genuine lavish oriental carpet. It is actually made of thousands of mosaic tiles, the drapes and folds carefully crafted to create the optical illusion. Nureyev was an avid collector of fine carpets and tapestries. He was buried with a pair of ballet shoes, his gravestone is in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, France.

Beautiful.

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