The Dying Dandy

Dardel finished this in 1918, and it made his name in Sweden. A beautiful young man lies dying, surrounded by elegant friends, but instead of turning his eyes to heaven the way a proper deathbed portrait demands, he stares into a small mirror one of them holds up, checking his own face to the last. It reads as a sly parody of the old deathbed picture, vanity outlasting the man himself. Dardel had travelled in Spain and been struck by El Greco's Burial of the Count of Orgaz, and you can feel that in the crowded, swaying figures and hot colour here. He also knew the subject from the inside. He had a serious heart condition and lived hard, aware he would probably not grow old. He was 30 when he painted it.