Erotica

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 8 September 2023

Jan Havicksz Steen, Woman at her Toilet, 1655-60, oil on panel, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Woman at Her Toilet by Jan Steen

Jan Steen’s Woman at Her Toilet is a provocative masterpiece of genre paintings because of its visual complexity and seductive allure, inviting...

James W Singer 28 August 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: La Toilette by François Boucher

The soft rustle of silky cloth and the hard crackling of burning wood echo against the yellow-papered walls of the boudoir. The small room is...

James W Singer 10 August 2023

Artist Stories

Powerful or Problematic? Robert Mapplethorpe’s Photographs

Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe shocked the world with his images of bondage, gay sex, female bodybuilders and naked black men. Technically brilliant or politically problematic, what do you think?

Candy Bedworth 7 August 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Portrait of Gabrielle d’Estrées and One of Her Sisters

To a 21st-century viewer, the portrait of Gabrielle d’Estrées might seem homo-erotic. However, pictured with her sister, the Duchess of Villars,...

Anna Ingram 1 August 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 11 July 2023

Reclining nude -Olympia painted by Edouard Manet in 1856 Art History 101

How the Concept of Reclining Nude Changed After Manet’s Olympia

When French artist Édouard Manet completed his renowned painting Olympia in 1863, it marked a significant turning point in the history of art.

Emre Kagitci 10 July 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 18 June 2023

Art History 101

Essential Facts About François Boucher

François Boucher (1703-1770) was a French artist well-known for his Rococo-style artworks. His artworks are synonymous with the blossom of color and...

Kateryna Martynova 14 June 2023

Erotica

Male Nudes to Celebrate Men’s Health

Campaigning for raising awareness about prostate cancer, testicular cancer, men’s depression, and suicide is important. Today we are showing you...

Magda Michalska 12 June 2023

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

Are You a Connoisseur 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 12 June 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 12 June 2023