Fléau! | Henri Camille Danger | 1901

In Fléau! (1901), Henri-Camille Danger presents an apocalyptic vision of destruction embodied not by an angel, but by a colossal, godlike figure striding through a ruined classical city. The giant—entirely nude except for the club in his hand—evokes mythological power, yet his expression is eerily calm, almost emotionless, as he walks among heaps of mangled, bloodied bodies. Flames consume buildings in the background, a swarm of black birds fills the sky, and the city crumbles under the weight of unseen catastrophe. The sheer scale of the figure turns him into an unstoppable force—perhaps not a plague sent by God, but the plague itself, incarnated. Danger uses classical architecture and Renaissance-level detail to contrast civilization’s heights with its sudden, violent collapse. Is this giant a metaphor for war? Human wrath? Divine punishment? The painting leaves the question deliberately open, forcing the viewer to reckon with a disturbing truth: sometimes, destruction comes not from the heavens, but walks among us in flesh.