--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Sitting for a picture is morbid business…" description: "\"Sitting for a picture is morbid business. A portrait doesn't begin to mean anything until the subject is dead. This is the whole point. We're doing thi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/911/don-delillo-294_actors_sitting-for-a-picture-is-morbid-business_1050643.jpg" --- # Sitting for a picture is morbid business. A portrait… ![“Sitting for a picture is morbid business. A portrait doesn't begin to mean anything until the subject is dead. This is the whole point. We're doing this to create a kind of sentimental past for people in decades to come. It's their past, their history we're inventing here. And it's not how I look…” quote by Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/911/don-delillo-294_actors_sitting-for-a-picture-is-morbid-business_1050643.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/911/don-delillo-294_actors_sitting-for-a-picture-is-morbid-business_1050643.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/911/don-delillo-294_actors_sitting-for-a-picture-is-morbid-business_1050643.jpg) > “Sitting for a picture is morbid business. A portrait doesn't begin to mean anything until the subject is dead. This is the whole point. We're doing this to create a kind of sentimental past for people in decades to come. It's their past, their history we're inventing here. And it's not how I look now that matters. It's how I'll look in twenty-five years as clothing and faces change, as photographs change. The deeper I pass into death, the more powerful my picture becomes. Isn't this why picture-taking is so ceremonial? It's like a wake. And I'm the actor made up for the laying-out.” [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Portraits gain meaning only after the subject’s death, turning images into ceremonial memorials. **In simple terms:** Photos become meaningful after death. Key Takeaway Value living moments over images. Themes mortality memory art Mood reflective melancholic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - Family photo albums - historical archives - legacy projects Key Concepts Existentialism symbolism Questions to Reflect On - What does a photograph capture beyond appearance? - How does death alter our perception of images? A Different Perspective May overlook present experiences. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Actors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/actors/) [Business](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/business/) [Change](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/change/) [Faces](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faces/) [Inventing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inventing/) [Morbid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/morbid/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) [Sentimental](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sentimental/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Twenties](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/twenties/) ## Related quotes > [“Something about the occasion makes me think I'm at my own wake. Sitting for a picture is morbid business. A portrait doesn't begin to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/something-about-the-occasion-makes-me-think-i-m-at-my-own-wake/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [I try to photograph her beauty; with a man I try to show his character. Once I photographed a man with a big nose,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philippe-halsman/i-try-to-photograph-her-beauty-with-a-man-i-try-to-show-his-character/) [Philippe Halsman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philippe-halsman/) > [With a woman I try to photograph her beauty; with a man I try to show his character. Once I photographed a man with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philippe-halsman/with-a-woman-i-try-to-photograph-her-beauty-with-a-man-i-try-to-show/) [Philippe Halsman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philippe-halsman/) > [For me there's several components to picture-taking and it starts with my goals as an artist. 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This is the whole point. We're doing this to create a kind of sentimental past for people in decades to come. It's their past, their history we're inventing here. And it's not how I look now that matters. It's how I'll look in twenty-five years as clothing and faces change, as photographs change. The deeper I pass into death, the more powerful my picture becomes. Isn't this why picture-taking is so ceremonial? It's like a wake. 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