Gay Erotica in the Altes Museum in Berlin
Some of the finest classical Greek and Roman art in Germany are on display in the Altes Museum in Berlin.
The Garden of Delights (room 6) is dedicated to the art of love in antiquity. Here the museum displays its fine collection of erotica (or smut if the items were not that old). The artistic quality of many items is of a high standard to confirm that these items were not simply backyard junk or party gags.
This display includes a lot of male genitalia — a symbol of fertility and protector against all kinds of evil in many regions — used in the shape of bells, charms, and oil lamps.
Many of the depictions are of characters such as satyrs and maenads associated with the Greek / Roman gods of love and sexuality: Aphrodite / Venus and Dionysus / Bacchus. Even in more mainstream art and especially sculptures, satyrs are often allowed sexual behavior not acceptable in the portrayal of mere human mortals.
Some of the works with the highest artistic merit even made it into the main exhibitions of the museum itself. In the main Greek display is a vase with a satyr becoming sexually aroused as a result of playing the double-flute aulos. The display on the symposium also has the crude if highly artistic portrayal of a man vomiting after a good night out and the prostitute Hetaera urinating. (Women were largely excluded from public life in classical Greece but an exception could of course always be made for the oldest profession.)
While studying the erotic art, note the Altes Museum description: “However, to make deductions from the image to the respective use would be missing the point… As far as the various positions of making love on the round fields are concerned, it has to remain open if they really reflect literary treatises on the subject.”
Gay Erotica in the Altes Museum in Berlin
Some of the finest classical Greek and Roman art in Germany are on display in the Altes Museum in Berlin.
The Garden of Delights (room 6) is dedicated to the art of love in antiquity. Here the museum displays its fine collection of erotica (or smut if the items were not that old). The artistic quality of many items is of a high standard to confirm that these items were not simply backyard junk or party gags.
This display includes a lot of male genitalia — a symbol of fertility and protector against all kinds of evil in many regions — used in the shape of bells, charms, and oil lamps.
Many of the depictions are of characters such as satyrs and maenads associated with the Greek / Roman gods of love and sexuality: Aphrodite / Venus and Dionysus / Bacchus. Even in more mainstream art and especially sculptures, satyrs are often allowed sexual behavior not acceptable in the portrayal of mere human mortals.
Some of the works with the highest artistic merit even made it into the main exhibitions of the museum itself. In the main Greek display is a vase with a satyr becoming sexually aroused as a result of playing the double-flute aulos. The display on the symposium also has the crude if highly artistic portrayal of a man vomiting after a good night out and the prostitute Hetaera urinating. (Women were largely excluded from public life in classical Greece but an exception could of course always be made for the oldest profession.)
While studying the erotic art, note the Altes Museum description: “However, to make deductions from the image to the respective use would be missing the point… As far as the various positions of making love on the round fields are concerned, it has to remain open if they really reflect literary treatises on the subject.”