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1000 Francs Self-Portrait with Death Playing the Fiddle
| Issuer | Bank of Central African States (BEAC) |
|---|---|
| Year | 2025 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1000 Francs CFA 1000 XAF = RSD 179 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A full-colour reproduction of Arnold Böcklin's 1872 Symbolist painting 'Self-Portrait with Death Playing the Fiddle' occupies the entire reverse field. The composition depicts the artist turning to glance over his shoulder at a skeletal personification of Death, which emerges from the dark background and draws a bow across a single-stringed fiddle held close to the painter's ear. The contrast between the living artist and the macabre figure of Death evokes the Symbolist preoccupation with mortality. The square format of the coin is bordered by a textured frame rendered in high relief to simulate an ornate picture frame, reinforcing the painting's presentation as a framed artwork. The image is rendered using selective colour application over a proof-finished silver field. |
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| Mint | Mint of Poland (Mennica Polska), Warsaw, Poland (1766-date) |
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| Additional information |
The underlying image derives from a 1872 self-portrait by Arnold Böcklin, the Swiss Symbolist painter, in which a grinning skeleton saws a fiddle directly behind his shoulder — an uninvited muse whispering mortality into the act of creation. Böcklin painted it as a deliberate provocation, not allegory, and its unsettling directness made it one of the most reproduced images of the German-speaking world through the late nineteenth century.
BEAC's decision to issue it under a Central African monetary authority is purely commercial — the bank has aggressively pursued the collector bullion market since the early 2010s, licensing imagery with no regional connection whatsoever.