What’s a Memento Mori?

Memento mori literally means “Remember you must die”. The early Puritan settlers were particularly aware of death and fearful of what it might mean, so a Puritan tombstone will often display a memento mori intended for the living. It’s something that is meant to remind you that everyone eventually dies.

A basic memento mori painting, coin or piece of art would have a skull. There are many examples, but Miguel decided to create one of his own and upped the anti by taking one illustration that is really two, depending on whether it’s upside down or right side up.

Can you see both faces?

Paris Musée de la Magie / Museum of Magic

The Musée de la Magie is a private collection of optical illusions, fun house mirrors, wind-up toys, and historical magic artifacts located in the Marais. Paired with the Musée des Automates, it also houses a terrific collection of over one hundred 19th and 20th-century automatons. There is, however, a dark side to the museum. Click here to visit the museum.

While there we saw a very cool optical illusion created when you spun an illustration around (like a roulette wheel) and watched as one drawing became another, depending on whether it was upside down or right side up. This gave Miguel had a great idea.