Title:Venus, a current figure of universal beauty
Delivery date : 05/03/21
Editor:Maxime Pargaud
Number of characters:3450 characters including space
Meta Description: Venus, the mythological embodiment of beauty, seems more modern and universal than ever. A figure intimately linked to femininity, emancipation... and Paris!
Venus, a current figure of universal beauty
How not to succumb to the charms of Venus? Also known as Aphrodite in Greek mythology, Venus uses its great beauty to seduce the Gods as the etymology of its Latin name uenerari translates it. It is a major inspiration for the arts: painters and sculptors have consistently honoured it from antiquity to the present day. A central figure of mythology, it bears values of emancipation and celebration of all forms of beauty that resonate with modernity.
Goddess of love... and fertility?
Among the eternal representations of Venus, Botticelli staged in 1484, The Birth of Venus. In addition to the virginal and sensual aspect of this iconic work, the vitality of the natural elements is celebrated by the presence of the Zephyr deities and the Heavenly Hour of Spring. If Ceres, the Goddess of Harvest is absent from the composition, this monumental painting is an ode to the fertility of bodies as lands, and to the divine proportions of nature. Like many deities from mythology, the birth of Venus is intrinsically linked to the Elements and therefore, to the necessary harmony between the things of the Earth and the men who are the fruit of it. Beyond the shell that saw him born, would Venus be born with the green hand?
Venus, pop icon and feminist
It is in any case an icon of pop culture, as the first symbol of “sex appeal”. Muse of the Velvet Underground, emanation of the pygmalion of the Factory Andy Warhol, Venus assumes a powerful nudity. She is the full expression of femininity. In this, Venus is considered an important figure of feminism that Katy Perry and Lady Gaga do not hesitate to quote in their songs.
The mystery Venus in the heart of Paris
While the Da Vinci Code carried, during a novel, the mystico-artistic investigation in the heart of Paris, La Venus de Milo, a resident of the Louvre, is not devoid of mysteries. It is even an inseparable part of its charm. Three centuries after the discovery of this marble sculpture, this Venus continues to unleash passions. The author's name is unknown, the position of his amputated arms is still debated and the riddle of the torn collar has not been resolved. His destiny is intimately linked to Paris. Arriving at the Louvre in 1821, only a year after its discovery on the island of Milos, she never left the famous Parisian museum again because of its fragility. If the image of the Parisian “so chic” continues to be the front lines of fashion press, would Venus not be at the origin of the true myth of Parisienne?
Black Venus, emancipatory symbol
All the contemporary appeal of the figure of Venus lies in the fact that she has constantly reinvented herself under various incarnations over the centuries. One of the most emblematic and controversial is the figure of the so-called “hottentote” Venus, or “Black Venus”. This nickname had been ironically attributed to Saartje Baartman, a South African native and exhibited slave