Cleopatra
This painting depicts the moment Cleopatra commits suicide by letting a snake bite her breast. Cleopatra is usually characterized as intelligent and sexy, and the crucial turning points of her life are always associated with her sexuality, like her regain of political power by seducing Caesar and how she turned to Antonio to ensure her power after Caesar's death. The painting that depicts the last moment of her life also highlights her sexuality as the key element at the point of her death.
The painting contains many elements of traditional male flattering western paintings as John Berger says in his article about nakedness and nudity. The woman figure is naked and all her sexual body parts are exposed to viewers. She is put in front of the picture, and the wall behind her is very dark, bringing viewers' focus to her body which is lightened by an unknown light source. She is looking away to the left side, shifting her attention away from the viewer. Although she is bitten by a snake, her face does not display pain, but rather a sense of serenity. Also, her face is decorated with earrings and a complicated braid. The image perceived by viewers, potentially male, is not merely a dying historical figure, but a woman with her beautiful nude body, delicate face, and serene expression. The viewing experience is more about seeing her as a sexual object.
Her sexuality also plays a crucial role in shaping the subject of the painting. The poison that kills her enters her body through her nipple. In other words, death is directed to her body through her sexuality. Her sensation of pain can be neutralized by the sexual pleasure from the nipple bite, and probably her depression that might have caused her suicide. Unlike other paintings chosen in our exhibition, these two senses that cover pain are purely secular and physical.
The focus on the breast as a center of sexuality is interesting from a biological standpoint. A study conducted on women with double mastectomies found that those who had their nipples preserved after the surgery felt a higher level of sexual attractiveness than those who did not. In addition, they reported feeling "more feminine" than the control group. With that in mind, Cleopatra's nipple as the location of the snakebite heightens her portrayal as a sexual figure. She is allowing the snake to attack the most feminine part of herself. a region that is biologically related to her self-perception as a sexual being (Blacker et al., 2006). In a broader historical context of her shame regarding an affair with Marc Antony, it seems both symbolically and biologically applicable that the snake is biting her breast.