Ecstasy

This book explores the concept of ecstasy as an artistic theme and how it has been adapted and altered from antiquity to the present day. The metaphysical experience of ecstasy has been an integral part of Western art since it first appeared in ancient artworks. Since then, ecstasy has been portrayed in a myriad of ways including politically, psychologically, sexually, euphorically, and intoxicatingly. This book traces the idea of ecstasy in a series of ten chapters, each focusing on a different aspect of the ecstatic state and on the shifting social significance of ecstasy over the centuries. It explores how different cultures address ecstasy and how it has been manifested in artworks for generations. Encompassing everything from classic sculpture and religious painting to 21st-century photography and collage, this book features splendid reproductions of artists such as Pablo Picasso, Otto Dix, Andreas Gursky, Alexandre Dumas, and Edsger Dijkstra. Ecstacy is one of the oldest and most astounding phenomena depicted in art and this book aims to show its prolonged cultural significance and complexity.