Here are modern Vanitas photos with classical symbolism indicating the ephemerality of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death.
“Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas.”
(Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.)Ecclesiastes 1:12
Vanitas Still Life by Edward Collier, 1662, via The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Homo Bulla Est (Man is a Bubble)
This Vanitas image features some of the classic elements of the genre including — dead flowers, a snuffed lamp, an hourglass, bubbles, an empty wine goblet, a skull with a crown, and a dried-up pomegranate.
In this Vanitas image we see a skeleton of the ancient horseshoe crab, old moldy books, spoiled wine, fruit & flowers, along with pearls & perfume, a snuffed candle, watches and a recorder. All are elements of ephemeral life.
Vanitas with Spoiled fruit and Jewels