Nude Art for Sale

Since 1815, Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, affectionately called “Venus on the Half Shell”, has been on display in Florence’s Uffizi Gallery. Painted in 1485, the classic nude is considered an icon of the Italian Renaissance. The large nude painting depicts the Greek goddess arriving at the shore following her birth, having emerged fully grown from the sea. The painting’s massive scale was unprecedented in the 15th century, as was the prominence of a nude female figure.

Botticelli was aware of the social constraints of painting modern female nudes, so he used the classical figure of Venus. For Venus, nudity was a natural state, and it was socially acceptable to show the goddess of sexuality unclothed. Her erotic beauty appealed to many artists and their patrons. Over time, the concept of Venus in art came to refer to any painting of a nude woman, even with no indication that the subject was the goddess.

Toward the end of his career and life, artist Roy Lichtenstein’s artwork came full circle, returning to the lusty comic book heroines he painted in the 1960s. In Nude with Joyous Painting from 1994, a blonde pinup glances across the canvas, hands framing her face. Lichtenstein used his signature ben day dots to construct her nude form which softens the provocative nature of her pose. Compared to the 1960s version, these modern nudes “take pleasure in their own company, without the slightest hint of needing or missing a man,’ wrote the art critic Avis Berman. “They are not paralyzed by their emotions…. This world flourishes exuberantly without men or engagement rings or kisses.” Nude with Joyous Painting sold to a Hong Kong bidder at Christie’s Global Relay auction in 2020 for $40.5 million.

The artists at UGallery create form, shape, and mood in their modern nude oil paintings. Read what painters John Kelly and Patrick Soper have to say about painting female and male nude forms.

“I was born in Paris and grew up in New York. I was mainly influenced by the Abstract Expressionists and the German Expressionists, but that changed when I saw a Balthus retrospective at the Met in 1983. My work became figurative and has remained so ever since. I work with several models, and they’ve become active collaborators in my art. Allowing them to be creative helps me. Viewers see intimate moments of self-reflection and vulnerability.” - John Kelly, Classical nude oil painter

“In my many years as a book illustrator and portrait artist, I developed a deep love for painting the human subject. In this series, which I now consider to be my life's work, I use all the techniques, mediums and styles that I have acquired in thirty years to try to capture the evanescent quality of the female face and form. It's a struggle I never tire of!” - Patrick Soper, Figurative oil and watercolor painter