The Fading Daylight

A lady dressed in white with her face covered by a broad hood rises like a tombstone in the center of an endless field of vast daisies, as the sun’s light is low on the horizon: sunset is approaching.

“The Fading Daylight” is the allegorical figure of an irremediable end: the death of childhood, symbolized by the young woman’s white dress, or that of life itself. The endless tranquility of the field of flowers is both paradisiacal and unsettling.

We are still far from the central figure, who awaits us in the center of this field. Sunset has not yet come for us, but we are moving towards her, one step at a time.

This “Memento Mori” by Salvi adds to the reflection on man’s inability to see what lies ahead: the face of this death, be it of a part of life or of its entirety, hides what lies beyond it.

However, the luminous face of the figure also tells us an additional message: that of awareness. Man, encountering his end, unveils the mystery of what lies beyond it and experiences an eternal moment of knowledge.