Eros and Thanatos

In 1951, photographer Philippe Halsman posed 7 models to form a human skull for his 

portrait of artist Salvador Dali. The title, In Voluptas Mors, roughly translates

to the voluptuous death. In Greek mythology, Voluptas was the goddess

of pleasure.

It took hours for Halsman to arrange the models

as Dali had envisioned in his drawing. Hours of direction,

contortion and prodding seems to have eliminated any

eroticism. In the behind-the-scene photos, the models look exhausted and bored.

Freud theorized that two instincts motivate people: Eros- sexuality and the drive for life, and Thanatos-aggression and the will for destruction.  The conflict of both impulses (pleasure/death) appears in nearly every episode of this season's Mad Men.