Nude, or nudity, is one of the fundamental genres of painting. So it was in prehistoric times (remember the stone "Venus"). Throughout the history of mankind, artists have experienced the greatest interest in a naked body, which has not died down to this day. “Nudes” in 21st century painting have incorporated the centuries-old experience of body image.
Ancient world
The primitive artist saw in the image of the body (primarily the female) a symbol of fertility and endowed it with appropriate proportions. With the development of civilization, the canons of the image of man also changed: in Ancient Egypt, the first canonical images of people appeared, which later gave way to Greek sculptures and frescoes.
In ancient Greece, the cult of a naked body reached its climax - nudity was not considered obscene and defiant, images of athletically folded bodies were performed in full accordance with the anatomy and discoveries of scientists (the golden section is an example).
Age of Christianity: the Middle Ages
With the spread of Christianity, the naked nature in painting sharply lost its position - nudity became the personification of sinfulness and demonic temptation. Nevertheless, illustrations of some biblical scenes could not do without nudity.
By the end of the Middle Ages, nudity had lost the status of the forbidden fruit, and with the onset of the Renaissance, a new flowering of painting began, including in the nude genre. Anthropocentrism, characteristic of the thinkers of the Renaissance, was embodied in the visual arts. Nudity in the paintings of Raphael, Michelangelo, Da Vinci and other artists of that time became an integral attribute of their secular paintings and church paintings. Truly recognizable authorial styles appeared - piles of massive bodies of the same Michelangelo are hard to miss.
New time
In the XVI century, a departure from naturalness again occurred, aesthetic ideas changed and a new canon of beauty arose, which included unnaturally elongated body proportions. Soon, under the influence of the Counter-Reformation, nudity was again condemned by the church. But by the beginning of the 16th century, mannerism had again given way to naturalness. This period gave rise to great masters such as Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Rubens, showing the human body in its entirety, whatever that means. They depicted not only beauty, but also flaws. Nudity in the paintings of these artists is characterized by deep psychologism.
The coming period of classicism (XVIII century) put an end to psychological research. This time marked the return to the ancient tradition with its strict ideal of beauty. But the longer this period lasted, the more this tradition degenerated, and by the middle of the 19th century, classicism mutated into dry academicism, characteristic of official painting of that time.
The protest was declared by the Impressionists - "Breakfast on the Grass" and "Olympia" Manet, causing a scandal, marked the beginning of a new era. The nude in painting finally got rid of the prudish pseudo-moral and gained true freedom.
Modernity
At the beginning of the 20th century, the era of freedom began. Each artist has gained the right to interpret the human body in his own way, which gave an amazing result. "Avignon girls" by Picasso and still life-like girls Matisse, prostitutes Georges Rouault - a spit in the face of traditional art, which gave rise to the art of the new century.
Many have taken the path of simplification, while others have gone beyond the mind. Nudity in modern painting is the subject of free artistic interpretation, the result of which is the whole spectrum of this direction, from abstraction to hyperrealism.