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
Après le Bain
Florence Tedeschi
Painting - 81 x 60 x 1.5 cm Painting - 31.9 x 23.6 x 0.6 inch
$2,018
Sous la douche
Herve Malcom Thomas
Painting - 100 x 100 x 3.5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.4 inch
$2,074
Pantomime
Marie-Madeleine Gautier
Sculpture - 61 x 24 x 36 cm Sculpture - 24 x 9.4 x 14.2 inch
$14,350
Femmes qui lisent sont dangereuses
Marie-Madeleine Gautier
Sculpture - 84 x 46 x 41 cm Sculpture - 33.1 x 18.1 x 16.1 inch
$25,225
Femme assise sur socle
Marie-Madeleine Gautier
Sculpture - 30 x 8 x 11 cm Sculpture - 11.8 x 3.1 x 4.3 inch
$6,502
Untitled TV I
Rodrigo Etem
Photography - 55.9 x 101.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 22 x 40 x 0.1 inch
$1,500
I'm never going to look back
Haydee Torres
Painting - 50.8 x 40.6 x 0.8 cm Painting - 20 x 16 x 0.3 inch
$715
Les trois demoiselles
Robert Koumassadouno
Painting - 110 x 60 x 3 cm Painting - 43.3 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
$1,401
Abstract nude 8-23
Alexandre Moore Rockefeller
Painting - 30 x 30 x 0.6 cm Painting - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0.2 inch
$561
Abstract nude 8-22
Alexandre Moore Rockefeller
Painting - 30 x 30 x 0.6 cm Painting - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0.2 inch
$561
No55 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 96 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 37.8 x 0 inch
$2,937
Secret d'alcove
Jean-Pierre Fleury
Photography - 80 x 60 x 3 cm Photography - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
$1,289
No45 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$2,937
Femme coréenne s'habillant
Sounya Whang
Painting - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Painting - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$1,087
la légèreté
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,937
No47 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 96 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 37.8 x 0 inch
$2,937
l' amie
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 80 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$2,937
No31 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$2,937
WetWay
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 80 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$2,937
Hills
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 80 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$2,937
La tête
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 96 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 37.8 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$2,937
ARIKA5 : VERDANT TEMPTATION IN KAWAII WHISPERS
Aya Toshikawa
Painting - 50 x 50 x 5 cm Painting - 19.7 x 19.7 x 2 inch
$1,906
Belle endormie 2024
Sylvie Bourely
Sculpture - 12 x 50 x 19 cm Sculpture - 4.7 x 19.7 x 7.5 inch
$1,682
Interrogation
Charles Bayonne
Photography - 70 x 100 x 5 cm Photography - 27.6 x 39.4 x 2 inch
$1,626
Sans titre (Un jour, une photo)
Aline Part
Photography - 67 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 26.4 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$561
La petite tresse
Jacques Coquillay
Sculpture - 22 x 15.5 x 12 cm Sculpture - 8.7 x 6.1 x 4.7 inch
$4,036
De chlore et de rosé
Christopher Barraja
Photography - 90 x 60 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 inch
$1,345
1984 Hommage a Schiele Tribute 2
Simão Da Silva
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
$1,962 $981
Lovers 10 Amoureux
Simão Da Silva
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
$1,962
Lovers 7 Amoureux
Simão Da Silva
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
$1,065
Lovers 6 Amoureux
Simão Da Silva
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.2 inch
$1,962
NUDE Lovers 3
Simão Da Silva
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
$1,065
NUDE Lovers 2
Simão Da Silva
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
$1,009
Broken Myth (Diptych)
Michael James O'Brien
Photography - 76.2 x 101.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 inch
$5,000
Danza de Fortuna Tres. From the series "Danza de Fortuna"
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 76.2 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 inch
$2,222
Danza de fortuna. From the series, Danza de fortuna
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 76.2 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 inch
$2,222
1952 Paris Muse aux seins nus
Kam Zin Choon
Fine Art Drawings - 60 x 46 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.6 x 18.1 x 0.2 inch
$1,065
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.