Divine Seduction. Erotica and Passion in Five Centuries of Mythological Depictions

Romantic stories involving the gods, demigods and mortals of Greek mythology have been popular themes throughout centuries of different styles in European art.

These are the themes explored in mythological depictions at this cabinet exhibition, complied from the holdings of the Museum of Fine Arts Budapest and the Hungarian National Gallery. The thirty-two  selected pieces were created between the sixteenth and the twentieth centuries, and represent a variety of art genres from different parts of Europe. Viewers can delight in an engraving made after Michelangelo, prints by Daumier and Gauguin, sculptures by Béni Ferenczy and Maillol, and paintings by Gyula Benczúr and Bertalan Székely, among other works. The visual reworkingsof the mythological stories are wide-ranging in tone, from the subtly erotic to the sexually explicit, so this book is not recommended to readers under the age of 16.

This publication accompanies the exhibition Divine Seduction. Erotica and Passion in Five Centuries of Mythological Depictions. 17 February - 17 April 2022, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest