This piece engages the concept of mortality, an ongoing preoccupation within Hirst's oeuvre. Hirst commonly explores the theme of death and its inevitability, and the fragility of life, often through provocative means. In this work, Hirst references Baroque Vanitas, the still life paintings loaded with different symbols that reflected the meaningless of earthly life and the futility of our vices and pleasure. Among these symbols, artists depicted flowers, hourglasses, bubbles, smoke, and of course skulls. Hirst’s skull floats across a celestial void of sparkling black background to represent the brevity of life and the meaninglessness of our earthly pleasures.