“We’re just passing through.”

Hugo Simberg’s *Death Skating* is a print completed in 1899, created using the techniques of line etching and drypoint.
The work is part of Simberg’s series of death-themed images, in which Death is not portrayed merely as a menacing figure. Simberg is known for his Symbolist works, in which devils, angels, and Death in a skeleton’s garb walk alongside people. The Rautalammi Museum describes Simberg’s world in such a way that, for him, life and death went “hand in hand,” and death did not need to be portrayed solely as a frightening thing; rather, death is often interpreted as a gentle companion. The Finnish saying “We’re only here for a visit” echoes this same wisdom.