From the dawn of time, ever since Adam and Eve, all artists of every age—whether the Egyptian, Greek and Roman artists of Antiquity, or more recent famous names as Rembrandt, Courbet, Degas or Picasso—have succumbed to their fantasies, obsessions and libido, and produced erotic works that the censors have taken good care to keep from the public. For Erotica, we surface from the subterranean realms of the museums to enter those of our national and private libraries. Here we discover that not only most of our famous writers, such as Ovid, Aretino, Voltaire, Verlaine or Maupassant, wrote erotic texts that bordered on indecency, but also that great artists like Boucher, Fragonard, Dali' or Matisse were inspired to provide suitable illustrations for these naughty books. For this special anniversary edition, we have culled highlights from our Erotica Universalis collection. A banquet for the imagination and a feast of the eye!

The author:
Gilles Ne'ret (1933–2005) was an art historian, journalist, writer and museum correspondent. He organized several art retrospectives in Japan and founded the SEIBU museum and the Wildenstein Gallery in Tokyo. He directed art reviews such as L'OEil and Connaissance des Arts and received the Elie Faure Prize in 1981 for his publications. His TASCHEN titles include Salvador Dali': The Paintings, Matisse, and Erotica Universalis.