Human body
Save your search and find it in your favorites
Save your search to find it quickly
Saved search
Your search is accessible from the favorites tab > My favorite searches
Unsaved search
A problem occurred
El hombre y el mar
Amancio Gonzalez
Sculpture - 25 x 45 x 83 cm Sculpture - 9.8 x 17.7 x 32.7 inch
€7,000
Broken III
Cécile Baldewyns
Photography - 90 x 60 x 0.04 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0 inch
€1,100
Belisama hopefully
Philippe Buil
Sculpture - 85 x 41 x 17 cm Sculpture - 33.5 x 16.1 x 6.7 inch
€5,000
Ulysse revient parmi les siens
Alain Vintenon
Painting - 88 x 80 x 4 cm Painting - 34.6 x 31.5 x 1.6 inch
€5,800
Stellar Object
Christian Frederiksen
Painting - 76 x 121 x 3 cm Painting - 29.9 x 47.6 x 1.2 inch
€3,450
Figure Painting # 023-2206
Les Thomas
Painting - 50 x 40 x 4 cm Painting - 19.7 x 15.7 x 1.6 inch
€2,040 €1,836
Pixelated young torso
Miguel Guía
Sculpture - 44.5 x 17 x 11 cm Sculpture - 17.5 x 6.7 x 4.3 inch
€1,656
La chute d'Icare 2
Alain Vintenon
Painting - 65 x 63 x 4 cm Painting - 25.6 x 24.8 x 1.6 inch
€4,833
The Goddess of Olympia (4)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 160 x 213.4 cm Photography - 63 x 84 inch
€47,943
The Goddess of Olympia (3)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 121.9 x 182.9 cm Photography - 48 x 72 inch
€23,971
The Goddess of Olympia (2)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 101.6 x 152.4 cm Photography - 40 x 60 inch
€14,383
The Goddess of Olympia (1)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 76.2 x 101.6 cm Photography - 30 x 40 inch
€9,589
Dorothy's Night Out (5)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 160 x 213.4 cm Photography - 63 x 84 inch
€47,943
Dorothy's Night Out (4)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 121.9 x 182.9 cm Photography - 48 x 72 inch
€23,971
Dorothy's Night Out (3)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 101.6 x 152.4 cm Photography - 40 x 60 inch
€14,383
Dorothy's Night Out (2)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 76.2 x 101.6 cm Photography - 30 x 40 inch
€9,589
Legs in the limo (3)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 114.3 x 152.4 cm Photography - 45 x 60 inch
€14,383
The Bunny In The Window (3)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 182.9 x 137.2 cm Photography - 72 x 54 inch
€23,971
The Bunny In The Window (2)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 152.4 x 114.3 cm Photography - 60 x 45 inch
€14,383
Chicas maquillándose
Jordi Turbau
Painting - 70 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 27.6 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
€2,600
Alain Montanguon, L'espoir
Alain Montanguon
Sculpture - 49 x 20 x 22 cm Sculpture - 19.3 x 7.9 x 8.7 inch
€2,000
Torsion - Nu
Frédérique Maillart
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 50 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch
€400
Figure Painting # 023-2209
Les Thomas
Painting - 50 x 40 x 4 cm Painting - 19.7 x 15.7 x 1.6 inch
€2,040 €1,836
Figure Painting # 023-2205
Les Thomas
Painting - 50 x 40 x 4 cm Painting - 19.7 x 15.7 x 1.6 inch
€2,040 €1,836
Deconstruccion III
Amancio Gonzalez
Sculpture - 76 x 73.5 x 25 cm Sculpture - 29.9 x 28.9 x 9.8 inch
€5,000
Deconstruccion IV
Amancio Gonzalez
Sculpture - 60.7 x 51.6 x 32 cm Sculpture - 23.9 x 20.3 x 12.6 inch
€4,400
The impossible move
Laurent Proneur
Painting - 152.4 x 121.9 x 5.1 cm Painting - 60 x 48 x 2 inch
€35,478
Looking for the exit
Laurent Proneur
Painting - 152.4 x 121.9 x 5.1 cm Painting - 60 x 48 x 2 inch
€35,478
Serie "Anna. Moscow"
Stanley Greene
Photography - 10.8 x 8.9 x 1 cm Photography - 4.3 x 3.5 x 0.4 inch
€500
La peur
Christophe Hohler
Fine Art Drawings - 76 x 55.5 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 29.9 x 21.9 x 0.1 inch
€1,800
Whimsical dance
Lia Chechelashvili
Painting - 71.1 x 50.8 x 2.5 cm Painting - 28 x 20 x 1 inch
€2,848
Multitude
Lia Chechelashvili
Fine Art Drawings - 76.2 x 55.9 x 0.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 22 x 0.1 inch
€2,872
Hommage à Terpsichore
Salvador Dali
Sculpture - 70.5 x 44 x 23 cm Sculpture - 27.8 x 17.3 x 9.1 inch
€40,980
Art d'être IV
Cécile Baldewyns
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.04 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0 inch
€800
Partie de campagne
Alain Vintenon
Painting - 123 x 124 x 4 cm Painting - 48.4 x 48.8 x 1.6 inch
€6,300
Grande Figure Debout II
Pierre Yermia
Sculpture - 140 x 26 x 24 cm Sculpture - 55.1 x 10.2 x 9.4 inch
€11,400
Human body
'I wanted to conquer the world. But I also desperately wanted to understand human nature, and to know what was inside our bodies. To do this, I have spent whole night dissecting bodies, against the direct orders of the Pope. Nothing disgusts me. What I am looking for, truly, in all of my work and particularly in my painting, what I have looked for all my life, is to understand the mystery that is human nature' – from the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci in the 16th century.
At the time of writing these notes, da Vinci had already made greater understanding of the human body the primary objective of his investigations. Dissection and study were key to his development of a holistic knowledge of anatomy, which da Vinci believed was vital to the perfect rendering of the nude figures which he painted and drew.
Little by little, the traditional image of the human figure was uprooted and in its place new ways of interpreting the body developed. Contemporary artists relentlessly questioned the traditional codes of figure drawing, liberally reworking the representation of the body to create a new image that was dislocated, geometric, deformed and disfigured.
The body as an artistic subject is at once desired, fantasised, dreamt, transformed, deformed. For painters, photographers and sculptors alike the body represents a rite of passage in their artistic development. Many people say that they most appreciate the talents of an artists by way of their control over the complexity of the figure. For example, it's clear even in Matisse's later, more abstract collages that he had perfectly mastered the human form.
Representation of the body is fundamental to Western art: first and foremost because it suggests a representation of the self, and therefore affirms the artist's own existence and coexistence with the environment that surrounds them. At the beginning of art history, the only bodies represented were the gods, supernatural beings, and spirits who had taken on human form. The body, nude or clothed, is at once one of the most widely depicted and most deeply polemical subjects in Western art (think of the scandals provoked by Courbet's 'Origins of the World', or Renoir's 'Picnic on the Grass').
The body has always been the primary subject of an array of themes, and its history is rich and ancient. Initially, depiction of the body was closely linked to religion, where the Word became flesh in Genesis, but later in more secular times the arousal of the artist when faced with the body made for an equally popular theme. Latterly the notion of the body as an object of beauty was subverted by Cubism until depictions of bodies no longer bore any resemblance to reality or made any pretence of respecting the rules of proportion.
Finally, in modern art the body has taken on an abstract shape within space, becoming one with the environment. In some instances, the body has become the artist's own support, as with Klein's models. The body as an abstract concept is tangible in many different manifestations in art, even in pieces as unassuming as some of Rothko's paintings. It remains the subject of inexhaustible inspiration and eternal debate.