Kohinoor Passion: Top 10 Erotic Art

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Get turned on with this fine collection of erotic paintings and sculptures. All erotic art arouses the senses and is unique to the age in which it was created. Most of these works of art are also classics that have stood the test of time. Here are a few all-time greats...pick and choose your favourite ones and rate them!

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	Rodin's The Kiss (1888-89) Auguste Rodin's 'The Kiss' is known for its unique blend of eroticism and idealism - which makes it one of the great images of sexual love. The couple are the adulterous lovers Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini (from Dante's 'Inferno'), who were slain by Francesca's outraged husband. The book can just be seen in Paolo's hand.

	Rajput Miniature - Prince and his Lady on the terrace (c.1730) Erotic representations of love, the Rajput miniatures are amazingly expressive. Featuring a wealthy world of emperors and courtiers, miniatures were meant to be held in the hand and viewed close-up. Most miniatures were commissioned by Mughal rulers and were produced in small courts tucked away in the plains and forests of the Himalayan foothills.

	Lovers-Cleveland Museum of Art (11th Century) One of the earliest of erotic art, this is an 11th century sculpture of a male and female in an embrace, with the male just lifting the garment off the woman. It comes from a temple wall in north India and is related to the temples at Khajuraho. Often placed in conjoining walls, these sexually explicit sculptures also suggest notions of union - carnal, yogic and spiritual.

	Velazquez's The Toilet of Venus (The Rokeby Venus), 1647-51. One of the most stunning paintings in the National Gallery in London, this oil on canvas is the only surviving example of a female nude by Diego Velazquez (1599-1660). Venus, the Roman goddess of love, was the most beautiful of all goddesses, and was regarded as a personification of female beauty. She is shown here with her son Cupid, holding a mirror.

	Radha and Krishna in the Pavilion (c.1760) This miniature painting at the National Museum in New Delhi is really wonderful. Here you see Krishna, the god of love, pretty much naked with a few pieces of jewelry, caressing his companion, Radha. She, too, is almost naked. The painting is suggestive of afterplay where Krishna has graced Radha with divine powers - sexual, sensual, and spiritual.

	Cezanne's Bathers Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) drew 200 bathers in his lifetime - male and female, singly and in groups. The last three are the largest, best, and most extraordinary. He was working on these great bathers, naked women, when he died in 1906. In real life, Cezanne was something of a misogynist-he was afraid of women. The bathers have erotic implications.

	Correggio's Jupiter and Io (c.1530) Correggio was an Italian Painter who died in 1534. In this painting, Io is seated nude and is overcome by Jupiter, who changed himself into a cloud to seduce the Greek princess. The painting has a very provocative angle and the expression on Io's face depicts an ecstasy that is very much like the kind of abandonment you feel while making love.

	Tibetan Yab-Yum Yab-yum (Tibetan for "father-mother") is a symbol in the Buddhist art of India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet representing the male deity in sexual union with his female consort. Often the god is sitting in lotus position while his consort is sitting in his lap - in a divine embrace that's intended to be seen in a sexual and spiritual way as the union of wisdom and compassion.

	Manet's Olympia (1863) Edouard Manet (1832-1883) - the French Painter and his Olympia ushered in the brave nude world of modern art, with this shocking canvas depicting a prostitute in repose. When "Olympia" was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1865, it ignited a scandal over art and decency that authorities were forced to put two armed guards at the painting to protect it.

	Shunga - Suzuki Harunobu Shunga (pictures of spring) first appeared in the 13th century in Japan and some of its classic practitioners (e.g. Harunobu, Utamaro) produced a large number of works. The 17th- to 18th-century Shunga prints depict very explicit acts of copulation. Erotic Shunga found its greatest flowering in the medium of the woodblock prints and painted hand scrolls.

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