Art Nouveau Dancer

Salome (1906). Another version by the German Symbolist and Art Nouveau painter Franz von Stuck (1863-1928).

Sin thy Name Is Woman

The Sin (1893) by the German symbolist painter Franz von Stuck (1863-1928).

The snake and the women are here inseparably interwoven, they are only two faces of the same subject. The woman may be Eve, Lilith or the devil herself, she’s a dangerous seductress. After all that’s nothing new. Eve always has been a kind of demon, but at the end of the 19th century it seems that this is all what’s left.

Femme Fatale

Judith and Holofernes (c.1927) by the German painter Franz von Stuck (1863-1928). Stuck painted here a self-confident strong woman who is ready to behead the helpless man to her feet. It’s easy to see how she enjoys the bloody work and the power.

So she’s less the personification of a biblical legend, but much more a modern femme fatale of the roaring twenties. To made that clear Stuck gave her the typical hairdo of that time.

Susanna Surprised

Susanna surprised by the Elders (ca.1913) by the German painter Franz von Stuck (1863-1928). That painted several variations of that subject. It seems that he liked the scene of the surprised young women and the two horny old men.

Art Deco

Susanna in the bath is by the German Symbolist and Art Nouveau painter Franz von Stuck (1863-1928). Although it's important for him to show a nude there are still other more interseting things. First Stuck renounces the naturalistic style. He preferes something more ornamentical and geometrical. It's all symbol, from the surprised women and the two menacing figures to the bathroom slippers.

Susanna in the Bath (1913)

Salome - the femme fatale

To show the vast spectrum of interpretations here a Salome from the beginning of the 20th century by the German Symbolist and Art Nouveau painter Franz von Stuck (1863-1928).


In fin-de-siecle decadence Salome is synonymous with the femme fatale, popularized by Oscar Wilde. She is performing the Dance of the Seven Veils - a pure invention of Wilde.