The City, Ape’s Land, paperback cover 1979

Boris Vallejo painted this paperback cover, "The City, Ape's Land," in 1979. Dominating the foreground, we see two women and an ape-like figure, positioned before an exotic city. The woman seated on the throne wears a horned helmet, a symbol reverberating through ancient mythologies, representing power, divinity, and a connection to the animal world. Consider the Cretan goddess Pasiphae, who coupled with a bull, or the horned deities of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. These symbols speak to primal forces, linking human and animal, the sacred and the profane. Such imagery taps into our collective unconscious. In Vallejo's illustration, the horns, combined with the woman's sensual pose, create a potent image of erotic power. This echoes the complex dance between desire and control, recurring throughout art history, constantly evolving, yet forever rooted in our deepest psyches. The image resonates because it touches on these ancient, unresolved tensions, evoking a feeling of something primal.