Sirje Runge “Dance of Death III- 4” (2003), oil painting on canvas, 100X90 cm.

“Moreover, Notke’s painting is directly related to death. My series is only about death in the sense that death is the end of all existence, but the series contains the whole of life from beginning to end – the dance with death begins from the moment of birth. I have come to understand that only the ability to love frees one from the fear of death.”

Sirje Runge (Ants Juske, Sirje Runge dances to death in Niguliste, Estonian daily newspaper, V.IV. 2001).