His art was heavily influenced by the upheavals of late-19th-century Europe: the rise of nationalism and liberalism, and the scientific discoveries that both explained the mysteries of the world and destroyed illusions of human centrality.
The most aggressive form of impersonation is the parody, designed to deflate hollow pretense, to destroy illusion, and to undermine pathos by harping on the weaknesses of the victim.
For Brazil's football lovers, to judge from the pictures of their horror and shock, this already legendary defeat is the equivalent of Holbein's painting, a memento mori that destroys illusions and strips away all consolation.
In a way, to invoke Bret Easton Ellis's line in his Newsweek and Daily Beast essay about Charlie Sheen and the differences between what he called Empire and post-Empire thinking, which strives to be transparent and destroy illusions, Mr. Formichetti and his collaborators "get it".
By designing a tower with such a self-conscious shimmer, the architect has destroyed the illusion that this neighborhood, which underwent gentrification long ago, is now anything other than a place for the rich.
In places such as the west country, the Lib Dems had been seen by many as a palatable anti-Conservative vote; putting the Tories into power destroyed that illusion.
Though this has destroyed any illusion of an automatically secure future, I find that I am nonetheless capable of taking effective action.
Her explanation of the difficulties of sniper work with the police force destroyed any illusion I had of her as a normal American liberal.
Now Greece has destroyed any illusions in "Europe".
This riot was perhaps the most devastating in the nation's history and destroyed any illusions that upward mobility could fend off racism.
