for where we are is hell

Erté, The Angel, 1983

So this is the December image in my Erté calendar (“with glitter on every page!”), and at a glance it seemed harmless enough but upon closer inspection it raises some very important questions, specifically:

1. Why is the harp made out of a human?
2. Why, instead of music, does the humanharp appear to be producing thick smoke?
3. Why is the angel playing the humanharp by staring deeply into the humanharp’s ass?
4. What are they into in Heaven??