Overview

Remember You Must Die is a limited exhibition drawn from the personal memento mori collection of Ryan Matthew Cohn, much of it acquired from Richard Harris, whose decades-long pursuit assembled one of the world’s most significant collections of death-related art and material culture.

Installed in what was once the Billiards Room of the Octagon House, the exhibition explores historical mourning traditions and the objects created to confront impermanence. Rather than presenting death as something hidden or feared, it examines how previous generations folded it into daily life, memory, spirituality, and artistic expression.

Spanning ancient artifacts to contemporary works, the collection traces the many ways societies across time and place have understood mortality through art, ritual, remembrance, and symbolism, with the nineteenth century standing as one of its richest periods of expression.

Set within one of America’s most distinctive historic homes, the exhibition transforms the Octagon House into an immersive experience, where architecture, atmosphere, and collection work together for a rare and intimate reflection on remembrance and the enduring human desire to leave meaning behind.