Cupid, Death and the Beyond, from Intermezzi, Opus IV, 1881

Death's curious chariot seems to be steered by Cupid, whose mischief-making is known to all. The contraption, turbocharged with wings and strangely outstretched legs, stays just ahead of a ghostly figure wearing a disheveled Indian headdress and accompanied by demons, riding a buffalo that gallops on human hands. Max Klinger called such images intermezzi, perhaps to remind us that they are amusements executed between his bigger, more serious projects. A leader of the Symbolist movement, he tapped fantasy and dream worlds while simultaneously giving voice to real social issues such as modern threats to Native American culture.