1/internal/media/dispatcher/120043/fullThe Ship of Fools1923[Oskar Laske]Oskar LaskeTempera and gold leaf on canvas A ship is channeling its course through the stormy sea. It threatens to fall out of the picture. On deck there is an incredible, teeming crowd. Between the masts we can identify a church. A procession leads from it up to Calvary, which rises up in front of the yellow background. But the people are hurrying toward the golden calf in front of it instead. Around it people are celebrating, marching, murdering. In a word: the world has fallen to pieces. There are no rules and no guidance anymore, and as such Laske expresses the way many Viennese and Austrian people felt after the First World War and the collapse of the monarchy. The literary foundation for Laske’s painting was Sebastian Brant’s moral satire „The Ship of Fools“ from 1494. His story of a traveling party in the fictional country of Narragonia in the late Middle Ages turns out to be a portrayal of human weakness and vices. Laske updated the historical text by integrating celebrities from the cultural life of Vienna, including Hans Tietze, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and Helene Funke.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/8187/rdf