The theme of the work is the relationship between "genius" and "madness". In this case the main subject is a king, specifically the "king of hearts" who is renamed with the title of "suicide king". The work represents a metaphorical suicide, meant as an extreme act. Extreme act that in this case is the self-denial and sacrifice that leads the artist to create the work, even at the risk of ending in madness. The search for a key, the need for an awakening, fear, empathy, awareness; all this is intrinsic in the creation of a work of art but, in the end, it is also intrinsic in life. The fool doesn’t know about it, the genius is obsessed with it, the artist is both.
