The Seventh Seal (1957)

Gunnar Olsson: Albertus Pictor, Church Painter

Photos 

Quotes 

• [the church painter explains why he is painting a mural about death] 

  Church Painter : Why should one always make people happy? It might be a good idea to scare them once in a while.

  Jöns : Then they'll close their eyes and refuse to look.

  Church Painter : They'll look. A skull is more interesting than a naked woman.

  Jöns : If you do scare them...

  Church Painter : Then they think.

  Jöns : And then?

  Church Painter : They'll become more scared.

• Jöns, squire : What's that supposed to be?

  Albertus Pictor, Church Painter : The Dance of Death.

  Jöns, squire : And that one is Death.

  Albertus Pictor, Church Painter : Yes, he dances off with them.

  Jöns, squire : Why do you paint such nonsense?

  Albertus Pictor, Church Painter : To remind people they're going to die.

  Jöns, squire : That won't cheer them up any.

• Jöns, squire : My master and I just returned from abroad. You understand, my little painter?

  Albertus Pictor, Church Painter : The Crusades?

  Jöns, squire : Precisely. Ten years in the Holy Land, bitten by snakes and flies, slaughtered by savages, poisoned by bad wine, infested with lice by women, rotting with fever, all for the glory of God.

  Albertus Pictor, Church Painter : For the glory of God.

• Jöns, squire : Whichever way we turn, our rump is behind us.

  Albertus Pictor, Church Painter : Our rump's always behind us. How true.