The motif of “Death and the Maiden” exists throughout the art historical canon with its roots in sixteenth-century Germany. Artworks in this style typically depict Death, often as a skeleton, with a (usually nude) young woman. Here, Austrian artist Maria Lassnig takes on this pillar of the canon making it her own by infusing tradition with a sense of the contemporary and her own unique artistic stylings. She combines the Medieval Danse Macabre (a skeletal reminder of our mortality), with the added eroticism derived from Death’s interaction with the female figure. Lassnig’s style of “body awareness” painting, where the artist would paint only the parts of her body she could feel in that moment, results in a somewhat mangled and distorted human form. In this work, Lassnig has placed herself as the titular “Maiden,” painted in her oft used color palette of greens and pinks: arms extended as Death twists and jerks her body through the dance.