Evert Collier

Evert Collier was a 17th-century, Dutch Golden Age painter and trompe l’oeil master. He incorporated the trompe l’oeil (“trick of the eye”) style into vanitas paintings. Vanitas works use symbols like skulls, candles, and flowers to remind viewers of the inevitability of decay and death. These morbid reminders were meant to galvanized viewers to eschew worldly (often sinful) pleasures so that they may enjoy an eternal afterlife. Collier’s trompe l’oeil method emphasizes this deeply Christian message with hyper realistic reminders that seem to seep into the viewer’s earthly, real space—a more effective way to convince a viewer that death and decay is indeed coming for them.