Salmacis en Hermaphroditus 1733

This engraving by Bernard Picart, made around the turn of the 18th century, depicts the myth of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus. We see the nymph Salmacis entwined with Hermaphroditus in a pool, their bodies merging into one. The visual transformation of two into one is not new; it's a motif echoing through time. Consider the conjoined twins in ancient Roman art, symbols of unity and duality. In Hermaphroditus, we see not just a physical fusion but also a psychological merging of identities. The urgent embrace and Hermaphroditus’s desperate expression convey a loss of self, tapping into our deepest fears of losing individuality. This imagery resurfaces in later works, such as in some surrealist paintings exploring fragmented identities, reminding us that these symbols never truly disappear. They are continuously recycled. The collective memory and the subconscious processes shape and reshape our perception of these symbols.