Marat na mão das Moias

FAU-USP · AUH0308 História da Arte I · 2026

The hands of the three Fates, the thread of life framing the last one — a nod to David’s The Death of Marat.

In Greek mythology, the Fates are three sister goddesses — Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos — who control destiny, deciding the life and death of gods and mortals. The first weaves the thread of life; the second measures and guides it, setting each person’s fortune; the third determines the moment of death, the instant the thread is cut. The sculpture depicts the hands of these three goddesses, with the thread of life forming a frame around the last one.

That frame signals and defines the artistic space, marking it out as art. In doing so, the work alludes to a life made eternal at the exact moment it ends. Since literal immortality is out of reach, art appears, perhaps, as the only way to eternalise existence — here symbolised by the thread.

Framing the cutting hand this way, together with the title, draws a direct line to Jacques-Louis David’s The Death of Marat (1793), where the fatal moment is likewise framed and turned into a picture. Beyond the reference to David, the connection to the course’s themes shows in the pagan figures themselves — a return to the classical values typical of the period the course covered.

6 images · click to enlarge

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