The Rubin Museum’s newest exhibition, Death Is Not the End, is a cross-cultural exploration of death and the afterlife through the art of Tibetan Buddhism and Christianity.
Featuring prints, oil paintings, bone ornaments, thangka paintings, sculptures, illuminated manuscripts, and ritual items, the exhibition brings together 58 objects spanning 12 centuries from the Rubin Museum’s collection alongside artworks on loan from private collections and major institutions, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Morgan Library and Museum, Museum aan de Stroom in Antwerp, Wellcome Collection in London, the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, the San Antonio Museum of Art, and more.
Death Is Not the End invites contemplation of the universal human condition of impermanence and the desire to continue to exist and is organized around three major themes: the Human Condition, or the shared understanding of our mortality in this world; States In-Between, or the concepts of limbo, purgatory, and bardo; and (After)life, focusing on resurrection, ideas of transformation, and heaven.
In pairing artworks from Christianity — the most familiar cultural framework in the United States — with those from Buddhism, a less known visual culture in the West, we highlight a universal common ground and encourage visitors’ inquiry as they engage with these diverse objects. I hope that this exhibition inspires conversations around the sometimes challenging or uncomfortable topic of what comes after life, as well as respect for different perspectives and approaches.
Elena Pakhoutova, Senior Curator of Himalayan Art
Death Is Not The End is on view at the Rubin Museum in New York City through January 14, 2024.
Learn more and plan your visit at rubinmuseum.org.
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