This exhibition in Stockholm (The Fotografiska) titled and inspired by the soap opera Santa Barbara, where this photo was taken tells the story of Diana Markosian and her family’s departure from Moscow to live in the United States. The photo above, titled The Arrival, depicts the long, red-stained though still promising journey to achieve the American dream in the United States. The barren landscape surrounding the Markosian family illustrates the family’s defied expectations when they arrived in Santa Barbara. They were disappointed by their hopes of living in the idyllic scenes pictured in their favorite soap opera.
Compared to the United States, the French are much more comfortable with nudity as exemplified in their artworks. In both the painting and the statue which is exhibited in the musée de Louvre and de Orsay respectively, the woman’s body is celebrated. The pinching of the nipple is a symbolic representation that the woman in the painting is pregnant with Henry IV of France’s child. Along the Seine, the famous river that cuts through Paris, is a series of comic artworks that portray nudity in various forms where both male and female bodies are celebrated.
These 3 different pieces highlight the different types of artwork that were cherished throughout Europe and in different time periods and how beauty was expressed during these times. It displays a writ of passage back in time, a truly fascinating timeline that illustrates how artwork has adapted and changed.