Erotica

Pablo Picasso's Young Ladies of Avignon. The painting depicts five naked women on a flat surface. Painting

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon

The year 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. Picasso Celebration 1973-2023, a large-scale transnational...

Ela Bobek 11 May 2023

Erotica

The Many Rebirths of Venus

Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus is iconic in Western art. Alongside the Mona Lisa, it is probably a contender for “most famous...

Isla Phillips-Ewen 2 May 2023

Erotica

Venus Vincit Omnia: Venus in Art

Venus (also known by her Greek name Aphrodite) is the goddess of love. We’ve explored some famous Venuses here. Furthermore, Velázquez’s...

Isla Phillips-Ewen 2 May 2023

Georges Seurat, Bathers at Asnieres, 1884, National Gallery, London, UK. Art State of Mind

Seaside Fun and Lots of Nudes: Bathing in Art

Let’s take a look at depictions of bathing in art and admire some nudes. These paintings, which span just over 20 years, mark not only a...

Wendy Gray 22 March 2023

Erotica

Erotic Art in Pompeii and Herculaneum (NSFW!)

Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum is a phenomenon often omitted from textbooks about ancient history. These famous Roman cities destroyed by the...

Zuzanna Stańska 15 March 2023

Erotica

The 10 Most Scandalous Nudes in Art (NSFW)

We’re here to let you in on a pretty widely known secret about art history: it is all about sex. Nude representations of men and women caused...

Zuzanna Stańska 21 February 2023

Male nudes in art: Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin, Study, Young Male Nude Seated beside the Sea, 1836, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France. Erotica

The Greatest Male Nudes in Art History (NSFW!)

Nudity started being an important subject in art in ancient Greece. The male body was celebrated at sports competitions or religious festivals, it...

Anuradha Sroha 21 February 2023

Courbet Nudes:Gustave Courbet, The Sleepers, 1866, Erotica

The Scandalous Nudes of Gustave Courbet

In the 19th century, French painter and rebel Gustave Courbet generated outrage with his scandalous nudes. What exactly was so scandalous about his...

Kelly Hill 21 February 2023

male beauty in art: Michelangelo, Ignudo, c. 1512. Erotica

Are You a Conoisseur of Male Beauty? A Nude Invasion!

According to the famous poster by Guerrilla Girls, 85% of nudes in Western art history are of women. They were subject to the male gaze, presented on...

Magda Michalska 6 February 2023

Erotica

The Victorians: An Unexpected World of Erotica and Pornography [18+]

The subject of erotica is vast. Even reduced to only the Victorian world of erotica, it’s a challenge to write about in the space of an article.

Sarah Mills 6 February 2023

Amedeo Modigliani, Reclining Nude, 1917, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Erotica

Amedeo Modigliani and His Nude Series

Amedeo Modigliani has always been one of my favorite portraitists because of his delicate lines with which he masterfully rendered the deepest depths...

Magda Michalska 24 January 2023

Erotica

Celebrating the Male Body in Renaissance Florence

The adoration of the male body was an inspiration for many artists and there is no medium better suited to presenting the full beauty and complexity...

Joanna Kaszubowska 22 November 2022