THE MUSEO THYSSEN-BORNEMISZA, MADRID, WILL BE PRESENTING A STUNNING NEW EXHIBITION, 'TEARS OF EROS', BEGINNING 3.NOVEMBER.2209 AND RUNING THROUGH TO 31.JANUARY.2010. THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SEXUAL DESIRE AND THE DEATH INSTINCT -EROS AND THANATOS - IN THE VISUAL ARTS IS THE SUBJECT OF THIS EXHIBITION, WHOSE TITLE IS ALSO TAKEN FROM THAT OD GEORGES BATAILLE'S BOOK: LES LARMES D'EROS. THE EXHIBITION ALSO INCORPORATES SOME OF BATAILLE'S IDEAS ON EROTICISM: THE NEED FOR BEAUTY, TEMTATION AS PROHIBITION AND TRANSGRESSION, AND THE PARALLELS BETWEEN THE EROTIC AND THE RELIGIOUS SACRIFICE. THE EXHIBITION FOCUSES PRIMARILY ON 19th CENTURY EUROPEAN PAINTING AND SCULPTURE, INCLUDING THE WORKS OF CANOVA, INGRES, DELACROIX, MILLAIS, MOEAU AND RODIN, BUT ALSO LOOKS BACK TO EARLIER PERIODS, IN PARTICULAR THE BAROQUE WITH RUBENS AND BERNINI. IN ADDITION IT LOOKS AT LATER WORKS, FOR EXAMPLE, THE PRESENCE OF 19th CENTURY EROTIC THEMES IN SURREALISM AND ITS WAKE. FIGURES AND EPISODES DERIVED FROM CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY AND FROM JUDEO-CHRISTIAN TRADITION MAKE UP THIS SURVEY, WHICH IS ORGANIZED INTO TWO PRINCIPLE SECTIONS: 'FROM TEMPTATION TO SACRIFICE, WHICH LOOKS AT THE PRESENCE OF DEATH IN EROTIC PASSION THROUGH THEMES SUCH AS THE BIRTH OF VENUS, EVE AND THE SERPENT, THE TEMPTATIONS OF SAINT ANTHONY, AND THE KISS. A SECOND SECTION ENTITLED 'THE ETERNAL SLEEP', ANALYZES THE SUBJECT OF DEATH AND DYING TRANSFORMED INTO A TRANCE SIMILAR TO AMOROUS ECSTASY, PRESENT IN THEMES SUCH AS APOLLO AND HYACINTH, VENUS AND ADONIS, MARY MAGDALEN AND THE SKULL, AND THE "BEAUTIFUL SUICIDE VICTIMS", CLEOPATRA AND OPHELIA.
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