The paint Checkmate was created by Friedrich Moritz August Retzsch. In the painting there are three figures. On the left of the painting there is a man with a green robe and a metal helmet. On the right of the painting is a man wearing red clothes with a black jacket. Then in the middle of the painting is an angel that is looking at the man on the right of the painting. The man in the green and the man in the red clothing are playing chess. The man in the green is playing as black while the man in the red is playing as white. The angel in the painting is not doing anything but looking at the man in the red. 

The colors used in Checkmate give off a sense of hopeless and sadness while other colors helps make some elements of the painting more prevalent. When looking at the painting most of the colors used are dark colors. The walls are colored grey, the background of the angel is black, and the statues are a muddy brown or gray color. All of these color are very dark colors and these colors are usually associated with negative emotions like sadness or fear. This is what the artist wanted the looker to feel as these colors fill up the majority of the painting still the colors used on the people are different. The colors of the people are very different as the color are lighter colors and are colors that are in contrast with the dark colors. These colors serve the purpose of make the characters more prominent in the painting as the character's colors are contrasting with the background colors.

The objects painted in Checkmate all show that the game is supernatural and that there something evil about where they are. The place gives off a sense of evil because of the decor of the place that the two men are playing chess in. The decor are all things that are associated with evil. The statues that are located in three corners of the painting are not regular animals. The statues' faces has sharp teeth and bulgy which makes the statues look very repugnant. The painting also have three skulls. The skulls are located at the table and at the bottom left corner of the painting. The skulls show that the place is evil because skulls are usually associated with death and evil. This association that these skulls have show the looker that the setting has a very evil presence. The chess pieces that the players are playing with show that the game is supernatural. The chess pieces are of magical creatures and of humans which shows that there is something paranormal about the game. This chess match cannot be a regular match because if it was then the artist would have no need to make chess pieces of creatures, but could have used just a regular chess set. 

Lastly, the characters in Checkmate all represent something. The man in the green robe represent evil because of some elements that the man in the green robe have. The first element is that his face is very angular. When looking at all three characters one can see that the face of green robed man is the only face that is angular. Angular faces are used by painters to show the looker that the character is a villain as an angular face looks uninviting like a villain would be. The green robed man is also playing as black and black is usually the color that is associated with villains thus the green robed man is evil. The man in the red shirt represent good as because his facial structure is very similar to the angel and since angels are a force for good that would mean that the man in the red shirt is the good guy. The man in the red shirt also is playing white in the game and white is usually a holy color which shows that a person is good. Lastly, the angel in the painting represent something both men want like power. The chess game is a battle between the two men and so it can be inferred that the men are fighting over the angel. The reason for this logic is because the battle between the chess players cannot be of good and evil. The battle of good and evil would have made the artist paint a demon not just an angel and so since there is only an angel that is present the looker can guess that the battle is over the angel. 

These analyses all show a piece of the meaning of the painting, but by putting it together the viewer can see the theme of the painting. The theme is that in an evil world the good guy is not always the winner in a match. This theme is show by first how the room that the characters are in is very evil and the room is an environment. This environment could be said to represent the world and that the world is evil. Then by looking at the chess board a view could see that the green robed man is winning the game and he is the villain. The faces of the chess players also show that the green robed man is winning. The green robed man is very confident and is only looking at his opponent while the red shirt man is very focused on his next move. This focus shows that the red shirt man does is trying to find a way out but cannot. In conclusion these element from the painting show that the theme of the painting is that the good guy is not always the winner.
