Halcyone 

Adrian Gottlieb made this oil painting, Halcyone, in the twenty-first century. In it, a nude woman sits on a rock, gazing downward. She holds a translucent white cloth to her chest. The artist uses classical iconography to comment on contemporary visual culture. The woman is a modern interpretation of a mythological figure. Her nudity echoes the classical artistic tradition, but her modest pose is suggestive of shifting social norms regarding female representation. To understand this artwork, it's helpful to consider the role of classical artistic traditions in contemporary society. Art history resources and critical theory texts can help us understand how this image challenges conventional representation, or perhaps perpetuates harmful stereotypes. This gives us some insight into art's complex relationship with social and institutional contexts.