DIANA AND ACTAEON
THE MYTH OF DIANA AND ACTAEON
While out on a hunting expedition, Actaeon chances upon the goddess Diana
whom he accidentally beholds bathing in the nude, together with her nymphs.
Incensed at Actaeon’s lustful glances as he looks upon her unpro -
tected nakedness, the goddess of hunting instantly turns the hunter
into a stag. The helpless Actaeon fails to be recognised by his own
hounds and is torn to pieces by them.
SEEING AND BEING SEEN
The exhibition is a unique combination of paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints,
photographs and videos that focus on the thematic complex of chastity and lust,
seeing and being been, voyeurism and exhibitionism - a complex which is of artistic
interest and has its place in the history of art. The show illustrates a thematic area
where depictions are still under a taboo: the explicit presentation of sex.
Yet the exhibition is not meant to be another study of the erotic in art.
Rather, it focuses on specific issues that are raised in visual works of art as they deal with the for bidden glance at sex, usual in a female form.
OVER 300 WORKS
The works from international public and private collections are shown
at the exhibition: You will see not only Diana, but also Venus, Susannah,
Bathsheba, Nyssia, Phryne, Potiphar’s wife, Baubo and numerous other nudes
of the classical and liberal kind, not listed by name.
THE LURE OF THE FORBIDDEN GLIMPSE
The exhibition is about carnal desires, the intertwined connection
between sex and sexuality, on the one hand, and beauty, truth,
ecstasy and even death, on the other.
It is about taboos, violations of taboos, guilt and punishment
and about knowledge that cannot be obtained in any innocent
way. Topics include the multifaceted fascination of beholding
the beauty of the female body and also the horror that can be
triggered in the beholder by the unashamed revelation of
demonstratively feminine sexuality.
More information about museum kunst palast www.museum-kunst-palast.de
Photo: Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Lender: Fürst zu Salm-Salm, Museum Wasserburg Anholt
