10 famous beds in art history
Édouard Manet's Olympia (1863)?
This work is as shocking as Manet's other masterpiece "Luncheon on the Grass". The protagonists of both works are Victorine Meurin, a female model who was very popular among Impressionist painters at the time. Female nude images lying on the bed are usually leisurely. Meurin in the painting is half sitting and half lying naked on the bed. The composition of the whole picture is similar to Titian's "Venus of Urbino" (1538), but different from Titian - and different from all previous female nude paintings, the protagonist of the picture has a firm, calm and slightly arrogant look, as if she is not the one being watched, but the heroine of an erotic story who is watching the viewer in an anti-Venus posture. Even the docile puppy at the feet of "Venus" was replaced by a small black cat with its body arched and ready to go. This work was heavily criticized by the art world when it was first released, but now it has become a masterpiece in art history and a classic image of feminism.
Vincent van Gogh's The Bedroom in Arles (1888)
Van Gogh depicted the yellow room he lived in during his time in Arles, a small town in southern France. The room was particularly simple, and the largest part of the picture was a yellow bed. This bed warmed Van Gogh's ideal vision as an ascetic, lonely and dreamer, and also accommodated the artist's troubled soul.
Robert Rauschenberg’s Bed (1955)?
According to art history, Robert Rauschenberg was the first artist to use his bed as a work of art. It is an intensely personal work, a relic of his sexual relationships with fellow artists Cy Twombly and Jasper Johns. It can also be seen as a painting, hung vertically on the wall, a canvas - it is the bed of Abstract Expressionism.
Tracey Emin’s My Bed (1998)?
Tracey Emin's My Bed has just been sold on the art market for £2.5 million. This bed is full of poetry and suggestion. Tracey Emin did not cover it with oil paint or hang it up like Rauschenberg did. She made this bed into a ready-made, like Duchamp's urinal. At the same time, her bed also echoes the beds of Van Gogh and others. This bed reminds people of sex, love, dreams and death.
The Death of Sardanapalus (1827) by Eugene Delacroix?
Strictly speaking, this is a sofa, not a bed. But no bed in the history of art has ever been so rich, corrupt, decadent and desperate. The painter depicted a scene of the fall of a dynasty. The people around the bed seemed to be desperate people circling around the wooden planks in a shipwreck, and the scarlet bed filled this despair with lust.
Rembrandt's French Bed (1646)
In this beautifully erotic scene, Rembrandt depicts not a mythical duo but a real pair of Dutch lovers—perhaps the artist himself and his lover, Hendrickje Stoffels—making love in a cozy bed. The couple’s affectionate embrace dispels the chill in the room.
Aubrey Beardsley's Self-Portrait in Bed (1900)
Beardsley, in his self-portrait, reveals his own decadent desires—he almost disappears into this gorgeous bed. “The gods say,” reads the French in the corner, “not all monsters are in Africa.” Beardsley identified art with sensuality, sex, and the unconscious—in other words, he believed art was in bed.
Edvard Munch’s The Sick Child (1907)?
In this horrific and heart-wrenching work, Munch depicts a child on the verge of death, a reminder that the bed is also a permanent resting place.
Carpaccio's The Dream of St Ursula (1497-98)
This painting depicts a bedroom in the Renaissance. Ursula's room has flowers, books, and a gorgeous red bed. She dreams not of love but of gods. In her sleep, she sees something that will lead her to sacrifice her life.
The Dream of Constantine (1452-66) by Piero della Francesco
Before a decisive battle, Emperor Constantine had a dream. The bed in his tent looked comfortable and elegant. The birds flying above the tent reflected the prophecy of the dream. ?