Homo bulla: “man is a bubble”

In European art, children blowing soap bubbles were rarely shown only as an innocent scene of play. From the late sixteenth century onward, the fragile bubble became associated with the ancient idea Homo bulla—“man is a bubble.” Its shining surface appears almost perfect, yet it can vanish in a single moment, making it a natural symbol of the beauty and brevity of human life. In seventeenth-century vanitas paintings and engravings, bubbles often appeared beside skulls, hourglasses, fading flowers, or extinguished candles. What first looks like a simple game therefore carries an old meditation on time, wonder, and mortality.