Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund · The Cleveland Museum of Art
Image: public domain (CC0) · Museum record & image source ↗
The Race Track (Death on a Pale Horse)
Albert Pinkham Ryder
- Date
- c. 1896–1908
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 84.5 x 102 x 6.5 cm (33 1/4 x 40 3/16 x 2 9/16 in.); Unframed: 70.5 x 90 cm (27 3/4 x 35 7/16 in.)
- Country / context
- United States
- Movement / tradition
- North American arts
- Collection
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Pathway
- North American arts ↗
Ryder’s subject was inspired by a horse race that took place in New York during 1888. One of the artist’s friends wagered $500 on the race and then died by suicide after the horse lost. Medieval symbolism infuses the composition: death appears as a skeleton on horseback holding a scythe with which it cuts down the living, while a snake—a sign of temptation and evil—slithers in the foreground. An intense man, Ryder worked on the painting for several years and was deeply reluctant to part with it.
Collection text · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0Start with what you can see: shapes, surface, colour and scale. How might the listed materials affect the way this object was made and experienced?
Looking prompt · an invitation to observe, not a historical interpretation.
