A previous article, simply titled, “The Nude Body in Art” is one of the most viewed posts on this website. It is therefore prudent to ask once more: Why is there so much nudity in art? The nude body in art had a special place in history, but there’s a new relationship to the nude body — as well as art itself — today. The history of the nude and of western art itself are, actually, the same. Art of the nude body was a necessary production in order to get in touch with the instincts, but in the new context today, there’s a different relationship to it.
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From Paris: l'Orangerie & The Louvre (Archetypal Feminine and the Greek Mentalité) /
Artists’ are driven by an immortality fantasy. Also, they are poetic types who feel the contents of life-psyche deeply. They need a subject, many of the Europeans chose “woman,” for she is at the center of their psyche; her unending pull both profound fodder for inspiration, sparking their instincts, stimulating the artist towards production.
Also, this obsession with the woman is a form of masochistic self-torture to tease themselves unending, turning an interest into a fascination, and finally into an addiction. (As one painting will not do, and one lover neither; all the complications of this muse relationship come with it!) On the contrary, it has been a form of liberation (hence, the “libertine”) to feel their erotic nature.
Read MorePaul Gauguin: The Dark Stage of Alchemy /
Paul Gauguin, throughout his painting career, remained attached to this unconscious relationship with the anima complex, and its corresponding projections. This is evident in the fact that the recovery of his own savage nature and pursuit of a lasting art was dependent on a relationship with Tahitian women.
Read MorePaul Gauguin: Desire and Immortality /
Paul Gauguin, a painter of the 1890’s, achieved an immortality through his art. Much of his drive to create was a compulsion in which he sacrificed his well-being to achieve. Yet, the contents of his imagination and intellect live on in the cultural canon of Western art, and his aesthetics propagated a new vision of art, influencing the likes of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. The psychological power behind such a drive will be explored in this essay, along with much more.
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