Look but Don't Touch

Available until 17/01/2027

Hortense is an art history professor like no other: irreverent, subversive, and determined to reveal the hidden erotic power in European art.

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Look But Don't Touch

Young Women with Unicorn - Raphael

Look But Don't Touch

Young Women with Unicorn - Raphael

Probably inspired by the Mona Lisa, the great renaissance artist Raphael painted this portrait of a young woman, but why is she holding a mythical beast in her hands?

6 min

Documentary

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Look But Don't Touch

Assumption of the Virgin - Nicolas Poussin

Look But Don't Touch

Assumption of the Virgin - Nicolas Poussin

With all the religious wars, the 17th century was a tense time in Europe. And in art one theme caught everyone’s imagination: the Virgin Mary.

5 min

Documentary

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Look But Don't Touch

The Garden of Earthly Delights - Hieronymus Bosch

Look But Don't Touch

The Garden of Earthly Delights - Hieronymus Bosch

Christian philosophy is based on two abstract and complex concepts, but art can simplify them: Paradise, where everything was good and is lost, and Hell, which is so scary that no one wants to go there. And in between there is…us!

5 min

Documentary

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Look But Don't Touch

Judith and Holofernes - Artemisia Gentileschi

Look But Don't Touch

Judith and Holofernes - Artemisia Gentileschi

The painter Artemisia Gentileschi was rediscovered in the 1970s by pioneers of gender studies in art. A simple question arose: why are so few great masters women?

5 min

Documentary

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Look But Don't Touch

St John the Baptist - Leonardo da Vinci

Look But Don't Touch

St John the Baptist - Leonardo da Vinci

Did you know that the word digital comes from the Latin "digitalis" which means "the size of a finger"? We use it to talk about the digital world, because in the old days we used to count with our fingers! But what has this got to do with Leonardo da Vinci’s St John the Baptist?

5 min

Documentary

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Look But Don't Touch

The Three Graces - Lucas Cranach the Elder

Look But Don't Touch

The Three Graces - Lucas Cranach the Elder

In 2010, the Louvre Museum launched an appeal for donations to raise 1 million euros to buy a work by Cranach, which had previously been locked away in a private collection. The poor thing... Fortunately, many people responded to the appeal, so everything went well for her. Lucky her!

5 min

Documentary

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Look But Don't Touch

Leonidas at Thermopylae - Jacques-Louis David

Look But Don't Touch

Leonidas at Thermopylae - Jacques-Louis David

Does Jacques Louis David’s painting of the Spartans contain a hint of homoeroticism?

5 min

Documentary

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Look But Don't Touch

Saint Agatha - Francisco de Zurbarán

Look But Don't Touch

Saint Agatha - Francisco de Zurbarán

Martyr usually meet grisly ends and Saint Agatha is no exception: According to legend her breasts were cut off with pliers as a torture.

5 min

Documentary

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Look But Don't Touch

La maja vestida - Francisco de Goya

Look But Don't Touch

La maja vestida - Francisco de Goya

Goya died old, deaf and somewhat forgotten, but he was a pioneering artist of his time and a precursor to the artistic revolution of the 19t century.

6 min

Documentary

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Look But Don't Touch

Woman Bathing - Rembrandt

Look But Don't Touch

Woman Bathing - Rembrandt

From The Birth of Venus to sensual shampoo ads, it seems as if everyone has always been excited by the image of a wet woman... How weird is that?

6 min

Documentary

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Look but Don't Touch

The incredulity of Saint Thomas - Caravaggio

Look but Don't Touch

The incredulity of Saint Thomas - Caravaggio

Is Saint Thomas' touching of Jesus' wounds homoerotic?

4 min

Documentary

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Look but Don't Touch

Leda and the Swan by Paolo Veronese

Look but Don't Touch

Leda and the Swan by Paolo Veronese

The painter explores the sensuality of the encounter between Leda and Jupiter

4 min

Documentary

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Look but Don't Touch

San Sebastian by Perugino

Look but Don't Touch

San Sebastian by Perugino

Is this an episode about Catholic saints or BDSM? Maybe... both?

4 min

Documentary

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Look but Don't Touch

Hercules and Omphale by Pierre Paul Rubens

Look but Don't Touch

Hercules and Omphale by Pierre Paul Rubens

Hercules is known as an allegory of strength and virility. But his love life doesn't quite match up to that

4 min

Documentary

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Look but Don't Touch

Original Sin by Michelangelo

Look but Don't Touch

Original Sin by Michelangelo

The Sistine Chapel could have looked very different...

4 min

Documentary

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Look but Don't Touch

Aphrodite's Child

Look but Don't Touch

Aphrodite's Child

Depictions of nude women can be objectifying and insulting. But Venus is perhaps more inclusive than she looks

4 min

Documentary

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Look but Don't Touch

Olympia by Édouard Manet

Look but Don't Touch

Olympia by Édouard Manet

Olympia is a classic Venus with a 19th century twist: she's a prostitute

4 min

Documentary

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Look but Don't Touch

The Origin of the World by Gustave Courbet

Look but Don't Touch

The Origin of the World by Gustave Courbet

The painting that caused a scandal

4 min

Documentary

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Look but Don't Touch

The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer

Look but Don't Touch

The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer

A famous image that at first glance looks totally innocent, but is in actual fact full of innuendo

4 min

Documentary

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Look but Don't Touch

Diana and Callisto by Le Titien

Look but Don't Touch

Diana and Callisto by Le Titien

Representations of Diana in art are a contradictory mix of fantasy and repulsion.

5 min

Documentary

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