Venus Anadyomene 1872

Arnold Böcklin painted Venus Anadyomene with oil on canvas sometime in the late 19th century, using techniques that were already very well established. The painting shows the birth of Venus, a classical subject which had been explored many times, notably by Botticelli. Yet Böcklin gives the scene an industrial-age inflection. The goddess emerges from the sea as if extruded, her hair almost like molten metal. Above her, cherubs present a wreath, but they too have a machine-tooled regularity, each nearly identical to the next. The entire composition has a feeling of being heavily worked, almost overburdened, and this quality has an aesthetic significance of its own. Böcklin has labored at the canvas like a craftsman in his shop, creating an effect of high finish and intricate detail. The artist seems to be deliberately making this painting the product of hard work.