smoking kills

    I found this image when I went to The MET in New York City. This piece of artwork spoke to me the most because of the message and story it is telling. Unfortunately when I toke this picture, I forgot to get take a picture of the artist and the name of the artwork. I tried to find it, but failed many times.
This piece was one of my favorite artworks because it tells a story.

   The artwork is a painting of what seems to be a person laying down, smoking a cigarette and losing a lot of blood. The person has no hair and a light bulb over him, maybe from treatments and surgeries. It shows the person bleeding and possibly dying from lung cancer. Over the person is a clock, maybe symbolizing that time is running out and he's dying, but still continues to smoke. There is a window in the back that shows that its dark outside, showing nothing but black paint. I don't really know what the purpose of the window, maybe symbolizes darkness and nothingness and explains why they continue to smoke even though it kills them, because they are depressed.

   I think the artwork tells a story and shows a message. I think that the artwork shows that addiction kills. The artwork gives reasoning on why people have deadly addictions. The face the person makes while they are smoking lacks emotion, as if that the addiction that is causing their death doesn't phase them. Almost as if the person wants smoking to kill them, as if the didn't care about their life. The artwork shows sadness and death, and accepting death. The artwork to me is an ideal work of art because it evokes emotion. This artwork is meaningful to me because my brother has been an addict for four years. His addiction has almost killed him twice, yet he continues to relapse, and he suffers severe depression. Every time my brother relapses, I visit him and he lights a cigarette afterward and I think of this piece of artwork.