A human skull rests between the life-giving thighs of a woman. Around her body, tropical vegetation flourishes, emphasizing fertility, growth, and the continuous force of life. Death is not placed outside this living world, but at its very center.

The painting refuses the common opposition between life and death. Instead, it presents them as inseparable realities. The female body, capable of giving life, also contains the certainty of mortality. Birth and death are not opposing forces but part of the same enduring cycle.

The composition is intentionally restrained. There is no dramatic narrative, no catastrophe, and no moral judgment. The skull becomes a quiet reminder that every beginning already contains its ending, just as every ending belongs to the larger continuity of life.

Rather than portraying death as an interruption, Life and Death suggests that mortality is woven into the fabric of existence itself. The painting invites contemplation of a truth that is at once biological, symbolic, and profoundly human.