Jules Barbey d’Aurevilly

« This melancholy that women have who have sought happiness and found only love. » (Jules Barbey d’Aurevilly)

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele. Poldi Lodzinsky 1910

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele. Procession 1911

Arthur Rimbaud

« I was going away, my fists in my burst pockets;
My overcoat also became ideal;
I was going under the sky, Muse! and I was your faithful;
Oh! there! there! what splendid loves I have dreamed!

My only breeches had a large hole.

  • Little Tom Thumb dreamer, I was counting rhymes in my race. My inn was at the Grande-Ourse.
  • My stars in the sky had a soft rustle

And I listened to them, sitting at the edge of the roads,
Those good September evenings when I felt drops
Of dew on my forehead, like a wine of vigor;

Where, rhyming in the middle of fantastic shadows,
Like lyres, I pulled the elastics
Of my wounded shoes, one foot near my heart! » (Arthur Rimbaud)

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele. Reclining nude woman with red garters 1913

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele. Woman with dress up 1911

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele. Newborn child 1910

Egon Schiele. Newborn child 1910

Egon Schiele. Newborn child 1910

Unidentified photographer

Anonymous photographer. Scorpio stockings 1940

Karlis Padegs

Kārlis Padegs. Madonna with a white flower 1933

René-François Sully Prudhomme

« The dream, a treacherous snake hatched in the down,
Rolls a flattering fetter around my arms,
On my lips distills a philter in its drool,
And amuses me with the changing colors it takes on.

Since it emerged from under my bedside,
My blood slides frozen like warm lava,
Its knots make me captive and its looks a slave,
And I live as if some other person in me lived.

But soon I knew the pain of its caress;
In vain I writhe under its weight that oppresses me,
I fall back and cannot free myself from it.

Its tooth seeks my heart, turns it over and gnaws at it;
And, all entangled in shreds of dream,
I die. — Oh heavy monster! who are you?  » (René-François Sully Prudhomme, L’ennui)

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele. Standing nude woman 1910

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele. Conversion II 1913

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele. Reclining woman bending head 1913

Crafty Dogma

Crafty Dogma. The septic tank. Collage

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele. Nude woman holding her right leg 1917

George Hoyningen-Huene

George Hoyningen-Huen. Hat for Harper’s Bazaar 1939

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele. Nude woman with raised arms 1913

Paul Cava

Paul Cava. From the Denise serie

Charles Bukowski

“It is only once in a while that you see someone whose electricity and presence matches yours at that moment.” (Charles Bukowski)

Percy Smith

Percy Smith. Birth of a flower 1910

Sofia Fedorova

Dancer Sofia Fedorova as Khita in The pharaoh’s daughter 1909

« I am anchored in the roots of your lands, in each of your births. » (DantéBéa)

Arthur E. Morton

Arthur E. Morton. Cypres Morpho 1900s. Autochrome

Jules Gervais-Courtellemont

Jules Gervais-Courtellemont. Butterfly 1900s. Autochrome

Jules Gervais-Courtellemont. Butterflies 1900s. Autochrome

Jules Gervais-Courtellemont. Butterfly 1900s. Autochrome

Jules Gervais-Courtellemont. Butterflies 1900s. Autochrome

Charles Baudelaire

« …Deep, magical charm, which intoxicates us
In the present the past restored!
Thus the lover on an adored body
From memory gathers the exquisite flower… » (Charles Baudelaire, The perfume)

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele. Man and woman 1911

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele. Kneeling nude woman 1912

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele. Kneeling nude woman 1912

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele. Two standing women 1913

Paul Eluard

« The curve of your eyes circles my heart,
A circle of dance and sweetness,
A halo of time, a safe and nocturnal cradle,
And if I no longer know all that I have lived
It is because your eyes have not always seen me.

Leaves of day and foam of dew,
Reeds of the wind, perfumed smiles,
Wings covering the world with light,
Boats laden with sky and sea,
Hunters of noises and sources of colors,

Perfumes hatched from a brood of dawns
Which always lies on the straw of the stars,
As the day depends on innocence
The whole world depends on your pure eyes
And all my blood flows in their gazes. » (Paul Eluard, Capitale de la douleur, 1926)

Romy Schneider and Alain Delon in La piscine directed by Jacques Deray in 1969

Unidentified photographer

Unknown photographer. Still life with butterflies 1910. Autochrome

Unidentified photographer

Unknown photographer. Seated nude woman 1910s. Autochrome

Unidentified photographer

Unknown photographer. Standing woman with drapery 1910. Autochrome

Unidentified photographer

Unknown photographer. Seated nude woman 1910. Autochrome

Marius Gaston Richard

Marius Gaston Richard. Young girl on beach 1908. Autochrome

Albert de Lapparent

Albert de Lapparent. Nane 1924. Autochrome

Albert de Lapparent

Albert de Lapparent. Nane 1921. Autochrome

Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse. Nasturtiums 1911

Anna Riwkin

Anna Riwkin. The dancer Astrid Malmborg 1933

Anna Riwkin

Anna Riwkin. The dancer Birgit Cullberg 1960

Marc Chagall

Marc Chagall. Animal in flowers 1952

Pablo Neruda

« It was thirst, hunger, and you were the fruit.
It was mourning, ruins, and you were the miracle.
Woman, woman, how could you lock me up
in the cross of your arms, the earth of your soul. » (Pablo Neruda)

Bruno Dumas

Bruno Dumas. Untitled 2024

Anna Riwkin

Anna Riwkin. Anna as Nefertiti 1930

Rainer Maria Rilke

« Alone, oh abundant flower,
you create your own space;
you reflect yourself in a mirror
of scent.

Your perfume surrounds like other petals
your innumerable chalice.
I hold you back, you spread out,
prodigious actress. » (Rainer Maria Rilke, The Roses)

Marcel Meys

Marcel Meys. Untitled 1920s. Autochrome

Frantisek Drtikol

Frantisek Drtikol. Dance study 1919

Albert Camus

« We must have one love, one great love in our life, since it gives us an alibi for all the moments when we are filled with despair.” (Albert Camus)

Paul Klee

Paul Klee. Colorful lightning 1927

Paul Klee

Paul Klee. Town castle 1932

Paul Klee

Paul Klee. Chosen site 1927

Paul Klee

Paul Klee. Asiatic god 1924

Paul Klee

Paul Klee. Little blue devil 1933

Paul Klee

Paul Klee. Abstruse 1934

Paul Klee

Paul Klee. Semi-circle against angle 1932

Paul Klee

Paul Klee. Configuration perspective 1925

Paul Klee

Paul Klee. Departure of the ghost 1931

Paul Klee

Paul Klee. Feather plant 1919

Paul Klee

Paul Klee. The dancer 1932

Paul Klee

Paul Klee. Sealed woman 1930

« Two sparks do not make a fire. They only give the impulse, not the passion that ignites infinity. » (DantéBéa)

Paul Klee

Paul Klee. The path to blue 1934

René Magritte

René Magritte. The night of Pisa 1952

Dolores del Rio

The actress Dolores del Rio holding a cigarette 1932

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Seated woman on rock 1933

Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt. Naked woman stretching 1910

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele. Woman with hat 1913

Pablo Neruda

« He dies slowly
He who avoids passion
And its whirlwind of emotions
Those that restore light
in the eyes
And mend wounded hearts. » (Pablo Neruda)

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Seated woman picking a flower 1920s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Untitled 1933

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Untitled 1920s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Canyon nymph 1920

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Canyon nymph 1925

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Canyon depths 1920s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Untitled 1920s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Canyon depths 1920s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Untitled 1925

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Nude woman with raised arms 1920s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Untitled 1925

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Untitled 1925

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Standing nude looking at leaves 1920s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Seated woman under branches 1920s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Nude woman on a rock 1920s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Nude woman looking at branches 1920s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Nude woman on a rock 1920s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Standing nude on rocks 1920s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Seated nude on a rock 1935

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Woman on rock looking at flowers 1930

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Nude on a rock 1920

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Standing nude on a rock 1920s

Hanna Forman. Standing nude on a rock 1920s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Seated nude woman on a rock 1920s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Canyon fragrance 1930s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Canyon nymph 1920s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Standing nude woman with raised arms 1920s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Untitled 1920s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Nude woman with drapery 1920s

Hanna Forman

Hanna Forman. Seated nude woman with flowers 1920s

Julian Mandel

Julian Mandel for Alfred Noyer Studio. Reclining woman on grass 1920s

Julian Mandel

Julian Mandel. Untitled 1920