Danaë

Artist: Josep Maria Subirachs

Title: «Danaë»

Year: 1998

Media: oil on canvas

Edition: original unique piece

Size: 157 x 412 cm

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Oil painting evoking the theme of Danaë and the laburnum with which Zeus possessed her. The iconographic depictions made of this theme in Western art are manifold (from Greek ceramics to the present day works). Subirachs takes a naked female body laying down and metamorphoses it into a desert landscape. Her voluptuousness is transformed into wavy dunes. On the left part of the painting, Zeus is possessing Danaë in the form of laburnum. Emphasis should be given to the contrast between the dark part and the serene part of the sky. The former symbolises the fury of the gods, whereas the latter evokes their mercy. Pinkish colours emphasize the sensuality with which Subirachs presents the scene of the union.

This work was especially created for the place that it currently occupies, under the first floor staircase and in front of the «Escalera Estelar».