Introduction

In this exhibition we present three pieces of art (Cleopatra by Giampietrino, Lucretia by Beccafumi, and Hoi An by Nguyen-Duy) and analyze them through the lenses of biology, history, and literature (mainly Venus in Furs by von Sacher-Masoch) to discuss the idea of finding peace through pain. Each of these works portrays one subject who logically, by their states of being, should be in great pain. But the viewer is confronted with the expressions on the subjects' painted faces. Perhaps slightly sad, but still calm, almost disinterested in their own scene. They gaze not at what is causing them pain, not at the viewer, but outside the frame - perhaps to the world they access, where pain is not pain at all, but tranquility.