"The unexamined life is not worth living," was purported to have been uttered by Socrates in ancient Athens at his trial for impiety and corrupting youth, for which he was subsequently sentenced to death. In reality, the city leaders were using him as a scapegoat for their disastrous and failed war with the Spartans.
Socrates certainly wasn't popular with everyone because had a habit of challenging people on their thoughts and assumptions and attempting to get them to think outside of their boxes. Worse still he was poising the minds of Athens' youth with the same predisposition to question and the gods forbid, challenge authority. To boot, by classical Greek standards of beauty, he was ugly.
But ever the man to challenge the status quo, when the verdict of guilty was passed, and the punishment was being decided upon, he joked that Athens provide him with free meals. This of course was not received well.
Socrates was a man of moral conviction which lead said man to be convicted for his morals. Rather than give up his life of inquiry, philosophy and flee Athens as his friends urged him to do, he chose death by poisoning with hemlock, a slow death that paralyses the muscles until one can no longer breath and the heart stops beating.
The painting is not about Socrates, rather when I was thinking about titles, his quote came to mind. But the painting is philosophical in that the figure is contemplating his or the other's mortality.
"A Life Examined", 24 x 30cm, oil on canvas
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