Abstract
Death has been one of the most significant conceptual and visual themes in contemporary art, gaining particular prominence in the aftermath of World War II. The widespread destruction, violence, displacement, and psychological trauma of this period profoundly influenced artistic production and led many artists to engage with existential concerns such as mortality, suffering, and human fragility. Within this context, Neo-Expressionism emerged as a movement that emphasized emotional intensity, subjective experience, and symbolic visual language as a response to historical crises. Among the artists associated with this movement, Francis Bacon and Anselm Kiefer occupy a central position. Although both artists address death as a fundamental condition of human existence, their approaches differ significantly. Bacon focuses on the individual body, psychological anxiety, and existential instability, while Kiefer emphasizes collective memory, historical trauma, and cultural destruction. Accordingly, this research investigates the visual representation of death in selected works of these two artists and examines the similarities and differences in their artistic approaches.

Research Objectives: This study aims to conduct a comparative analysis of the representation of death in post–World War II Neo-Expressionist painting, focusing on selected works of Francis Bacon and Anselm Kiefer. It seeks to examine how visual elements such as color, texture, space, composition, figuration, and symbolism contribute to the construction of meaning related to death. Furthermore, the study explores the similarities and differences in their visual languages and investigates the role of historical, cultural, and psychological contexts in shaping their artistic interpretations. The main research questions are: How is the concept of death represented through visual elements in the selected works of Francis Bacon and Anselm Kiefer? What similarities and differences exist between their approaches to visualizing death?

Research Method: This research is fundamental in nature and employs a descriptive-analytical and comparative methodology. Data were collected through library-based and documentary sources, including books, scholarly articles, theses, exhibition catalogues, and reliable

museum resources. Selected works by Francis Bacon and Anselm Kiefer were chosen based on their relevance to the theme of death and their significance within the artists’ oeuvres. The analysis focuses on visual elements such as color, texture, spatial organization, figuration, materiality, and symbolic structures. Through comparative interpretation, the study examines how these elements contribute to the representation of death and reflect the social, historical, and psychological conditions of the post-war period. The relationship between visual form and conceptual meaning is also considered in order to provide a deeper understanding of Neo-Expressionist visual language.

findings and Conclusion: The findings indicate that Francis Bacon and Anselm Kiefer both employ death as a central thematic structure for exploring the human condition; however, their representational strategies differ fundamentally. In Kiefer’s works, death is closely linked to collective memory, historical trauma, war, destruction, and cultural loss. Through the use of material degradation, scorched surfaces, symbolic references, and monumental spatial constructions, Kiefer transforms death into a reflection on historical remembrance. In contrast, Bacon represents death through distorted bodies, confined spaces, psychological tension, and existential anxiety, emphasizing individual suffering and the fragility of human existence.
Despite these differences, both artists rely on visual elements as essential tools for expressing the concept of death. The comparative examination also demonstrates that visual language functions not merely as a formal aesthetic structure but as an interpretive system through which historical experience and psychological reality are transformed into artistic expression. In Bacon’s paintings, deformation of the human figure, restricted spatial settings, and expressive color relationships intensify the perception of vulnerability, fear, and existential isolation. In contrast, Kiefer employs monumental scale, layered textures, symbolic materials, and references to German history and mythology to reconstruct collective memory and confront the consequences of war. These different visual strategies reveal that the representation of death extends beyond iconographic motifs and becomes a means of communicating cultural identity, historical consciousness, and emotional experience within post-war art.Their works demonstrate that death is not merely a biological event but a complex cultural, historical, and existential phenomenon. The comparative analysis further reveals that elements such as color, texture, space, figuration, and symbolism play a crucial role in shaping meaning within their works. Ultimately, the study concludes that Bacon and Kiefer represent two distinct yet complementary approaches to post-war artistic expression, contributing to a deeper understanding of Neo-Expressionism and its engagement with trauma, memory, and mortality.