There are many reasons that the female nude is such a popular subject for painting. It is an aesthetically pleasing subject. Most artists and most patrons have been men. It is an extension of a centuries long tradition of life drawing. It has the potential to be erotic.
It can shock. These 20 are mostly very well known and mostly were painted by some of the greatest artists of all time. Putting them in date order removes favouritism and also gives an interesting view of the evolution of art and the evolution of the subject. Giorgione, Sleeping Venus c The first reclining nude in Western painting. Possibly completed by Titian, who subsequently painted the very similar Venus of Urbino.
Titian, Venus of Urbino, or Just a gratuitous picture of a naked female with no Bible, no mythology, no allegory. A bit like Playboy really. Botticelli, The Birth of Venus c An easily understandable scene from Greek mythology. Durer, Eve One of a pair of panel paintings.
The other depicting Adam. This he painted twice and it is a loose copy of a lost Michelangelo picture. Rubens painted many nudes, mostly from mythology. Velazquez, Rokeby Venus c Remarkable for having been painted at the height of the Spanish Inquisition, so he almost certainly painted it whilst in Italy. So this is a religious painting.
Goya, The Nude Maja He also painted the same picture with clothes on. She looks at the viewer and has pubic hair. Ingres, Grande Odalisque Concubine. Which he never visited. Manet, Olympia Puts you in the position of a client visiting a prostitute. Look at her gaze. Thought to be a comment on the Dreyfus affair, or a criticism of Impressionism or of photography. Gauguin, Nevermore Her name is Ahura, she is 15 years old and has just lost her baby. Gauguin, the father, is 49 and syphilitic.
