Venus — centuries of artists and their leading lady
From her mysterious emergence from the foam of the sea to her countless amorous affairs, the story of Venus, the ancient Roman goddess of love, has captured the hearts and imaginations of generations of artists. Indeed, she is the embodiment of human desire. Her story is filled with human weaknesses, a fact that perhaps makes her so eminently likeable. A stunning exhibition at the Alte Pinakothek explores the myth of Venus in European art through the centuries.In Roman mythology, Venus was originally a goddess of gardens and fields, but soon became identified with Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. As vain Aphrodite, she plays a fundamental role in Homer’s Iliad, provoking the war between the Trojans and the Greeks. Numerous legends also circle Venus’ romantic affairs and intrigues with both gods and mortals. As punishment for rejecting Zeus’ advances, he forces her to marry the unsightly Vulcan, the master of fire. Her many extra-marital love affairs include numerous gods, most notably Mars, the god of war. Unfortunately, Vulcan discovers them in bed together and all of Olympus mocks the lovers. She is equally unlucky with the beautiful Adonis, with whom she falls violently in love after being shot by Cupid with one of his arrows. In spite of her forewarnings, Adonis is killed by a wild boar while hunting. Although herself an avid adulteress, she is the protector of marriage and the benefactor of the engaged. A most popular goddess during Antiquity, she was forgotten for some 1,000 years, only to be rediscovered in the Renaissance period. She remained the most frequently evoked goddess in literature and the arts until the Romantic period of the 19th century.
The exhibition “Venus: Bilder einer Göttin” (Venus: Paintings of a Goddess) aims at highlighting the various manners in which this goddess was represented in European art from the 16th to the 19th century. A fine selection of 40 paintings is complemented by some 60 works on paper, including etchings by Albrecht Altdorfer and woodcuts by Lucas Cranach.
The 16th-century section of the exhibition focuses on Venetian works, most notably Titian’s exquisite Venus with the Organ Player, painted about 1550, on loan from the Prado Museum. Here, two themes popular at that time are united in one painting, namely the reclining Venus or nymph, and the musician. The nobleman sitting beside a naked Venus heightens the sense of eroticism. His gaze has dropped unashamedly to the lower regions of her naked body. Background elements, such as a peacock, a deer and an amorous couple, evoke the pleasures of carnal love.
In the 17th century, painters added a certain moral context. In Nicolas Poussin’s Venus and Mars of 1630, Mars is disarmed by little cupids, thus showing how love can conquer war. Venus was a highly popular motif in France, particularly during the age of Enlightenment. The moral context was reduced in favor of playful, light elements. In the charming Venus Disarms Cupid by François Boucher, the chubby son of the goddess pleads with his mother to give him back his arrows. Commissioned in 1751 by Madame de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV, this painting illustrates the changing relationship between the king and his mistress, which, from 1750, was one of friendship.
In another section of the exhibition the atmosphere of the 19th-century Paris Salons is re-created with rich red wallpaper, thick velvet curtains and opulent, if fake, palm trees. Here, for the first time since 1863, three paintings have been reunited that caused an uproar at the Salon of that year. The Birth of Venus by Alexandre Cabanel and Eugène Emmanuel Amaury-Duval, as well as Pearl and Sea Wave by Paul Baudry show a return to naturalism characteristic of the second half of the 19th century. An unusual work by Paul Cézanne, The Eternal Feminine, depicts a naked faceless woman receiving the men of the world, including artists, musicians and even a bishop, in an early version of our modern-day peepshow. Works by Max Beckmann and Lovis Corinth from the beginning of the 20th century, which approach the Venus myth in a very personal way, round off this comprehensive exhibition.
“Venus: Bilder einer Göttin,” on display until April 22, is accompanied by a series of lectures (in German): 01.03 Gabriele Vitásek talks about Titian’s lost Venus for Charles V. 22.03 Dr. Ulla Weber-Woelk introduces the different Venus representations by Vouet and Poussin. 29.03 Dr. Veronika Mertens discusses the changing Venus paintings of Vasari, Carracci and Boucher. All lectures are held in the Neue Pinakothek at 18:30.
