This work belongs to the centuries-old tradition of the vanitas, a pictorial genre intended to evoke the brevity of life and the inevitability of death. Bernard Buffet revisits here the traditional symbols of the theme — the skull, dice, lamp and flowers — to create a silent composition in which everyday objects become signs of contemplation on the passing of time. Painted in 1980, this canvas fully embodies Buffet’s distinctive style: a vigorous drawing defined by bold black outlines, simplified forms, and a restrained palette dominated by contrasts between black, yellow and red. The graphic tension of the composition reinforces the dramatic and theatrical character of this still life. Through this Vanitas, Bernard Buffet renews a major subject in the history of art, bringing to it his own personal language, characterised by austerity, formal rigour and profound existential reflection.