Georgia O'Keeffe, Ram's Head, White Hollyhock & Little Hills, 1935

Henri Rousseau, The Sleeping Gypsy, 1897

Kris Lewis, Scintillating Venuses

To test the limits of the relationship between performer and audience, Abramović developed one of her most challenging (and best-known) performances. She assigned a passive role to herself, with the public being the force which would act on her. Abramović placed on a table 72 objects that people were allowed to use (a sign informed them) in any way that they chose. Some of these were objects that could give pleasure, while others could be wielded to inflict pain, or to harm her. Among them were a rose, a feather, honey, a whip, olive oil, scissors, a scalpel, a gun and a single bullet. For six hours the artist allowed the audience members to manipulate her body and actions.

Initially, members of the audience reacted with caution and modesty, but as time passed (and the artist remained passive) people began to act more aggressively. As Abramović described it later: “What I learned was that... if you leave it up to the audience, they can kill you.” ... “I felt really violated: they cut up my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach, one person aimed the gun at my head, and another took it away. It created an aggressive atmosphere. After exactly 6 hours, as planned, I stood up and started walking toward the audience. Everyone ran away, to escape an actual confrontation.”

Marina Abramović, Rhythm 0, 1974

Cornelis van Haarlem, Fall of the Titans, 1588

The Kiss of Death

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John Kenn Mortensen

"Beware of Greeks bearing gifts."

Laocoön

Laocoön and His Sons

Giorgio De Chirico, The Archaeologists, 1940

Hugo Simberg, The Garden of Death, 1896

Pieter Brueghel the Elder, The Seven Deadly Sins or the Seven Vices - Lechery, mid 16th Century

Anselm Kiefer at the Royal Academy review – ‘an exciting rollercoaster ride of beauty, horror and history’

Inside Anselm Kiefer's astonishing 200-acre art studio

Anselm Kiefer, The Rhine (Melancholia), 1982-2013

Jean-Léon Gérôme, Truth Rising from her Well, 1896

Luis Ricardo Falero, Witches going to their Sabbath, 1878

Vasily Vereshchagin, The Apotheosis of War, 1871

Hovsep Pushman, Narcissa

Ivan Aivazovsky, The Billow, 1889

Rory Kurtz, Rocky Passages, Broken Promises, 2011

Thomas Moran, Moonlit Seascape, 1902

Odilon Redon, Mystical Conversation, 1896