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Mini-Tutorial: Erotic Symbolism in Visual Art |
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Representational painting,
such as landscapes, people, and furniture, is
normally viewed at face value. A flower is just a flower;
a chair a chair. But the manner in which an artist uses shapes
can convey more than the literal content of the painting. Once you grasp how an artist plays with shapes to convey another layer of meaning it can open up a universe of deeper insight and, sometimes, powerfully erotic subtexts. You may never see art again in the same way. When thinking about erotic symbolism in art Georgia O'Keeffe springs to mind. The painting to the right is a detail of a flower but it is also an excellent visual symbol of an open and flushed vulva.
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 O'Keeffe, 1923, Grey Line with Black, Blue, and Yellow
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At first glance you see a
flower and, on reflection, you might grasp features of
female anatomical details such as the clitoral hood, the
clitoris, the labia majora, and the labia minora. O'Keeffe is making an interesting statement in associating the vagina with a flower. The vagina is to humanity what a flower is to nature: it is life-giving, beautiful, and fragile, yet resilient.
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Continuing with another
O'Keeffe painting, notice that there are no sharp vertical lines
here. Rather, there are organic, fluid shapes and outlines.
These shapes are easy metaphors for the soft lips of the labia
and the yellow bud
serves for the small erectile body of the clitoris. There is a strong sense that we are entering into the flower, but we also get a sense that inside is a whole new universe open to us.
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 O'Keeffe, 1924, Light Iris
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A painting that has intrigued
artists, such as Dali, is The Surrender of Breda by
Velázquez.
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 Velázquez, The Surrender of Breda
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| This painting is loaded with phallic shapes: vertical, rigid spears, as well as thrusting weapons meant to penetrate human flesh. |
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On a less obvious note, the
spears in the upper part of the canvas are balanced below by
phallic shapes of the men's and horse's legs and the
vertical negative spaces between them.
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In a fantastic stroke of scope,
Velázquez incorporated feminine, fluid, organic forms into
the panoramic landscape. It is as if the organic landscape is imprisoned by the
bars of weapons and the soft feminine mounds of earth are
pressed underfoot by the rigid men's legs. Though this painting is literally about the civil and very polite-looking surrender of Breda, it is not a stretch of the imagination to see, through Velázquez's use of erotic symbolism, that this painting is really about destructive rape. |
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In a symbolic way this
still-life is the most erotic work I have ever made. The
lacquered table top is designed with leaves
sprouting at 45-degree angles and large red beaks of the
toucans; all very phallic. The masculine table top's motif is reflected, diffracted, and seen through the feminine curves and lip of the class jar and its liquid center. Within the jar, the erect leaves and beaks change into fluid, organic, feminine shapes.
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Going back to the first
O'Keeffe, it's easy to see that the inner lips are made up of
phallic shapes. I find it amusing that in constructing this painting O'Keeffe used phallic shapes, not as a dominate force as in The Surrender of Breda, but in subservience to the feminine whole.
I hope you enjoyed this escapade in seeing art in a fresh way. Michael
Newberry |
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