The Art Of Dying.

Life lessons from Peter Schjeldhal on creativity, mortality, inspiration, curiosity, reflection, art, writing, experience and failure.

“Self-Portrait with Death Playing the Fiddle” - Arnold Böcklin - 1872

I don’t know much about dying. What I do know is limited to dim-lit hospital rooms, greying sunlight between soft rattling venetian blinds, masked-face nurses and deep, guttural cries of pain. It’s limited to the foreign and illogical sensation of not being able to see a person again, of not being able to say goodbye. 

I find myself thinking about death periodically, reminding myself of it in one way or another with a frequency that is I imagine, hopelessly human. In the words of the late great artist, Virgil Abloh, ‘the deadline is the greatest inspiration,’ and, in similar sentiment, what is death but the final deadline?