Omphale 1914

This painting of Omphale was made by Byam Shaw, sometime between the late 19th and early 20th century. Look at the fur draped around her, which she wears as a garment, and how the artist plays with texture—smooth skin against the rough, tactile fur, the weight of the beast’s head resting on her own. He’s really going for it. Shaw, in his studio, must have thought about the weight of history and the power of myth; he was definitely trying to inject life into the Victorian imagination. It’s like he’s asking: What does it mean to be both powerful and vulnerable, masculine and feminine? These figures, Omphale and Hercules, they’re caught up in a game of role reversal, a dance of domination and submission. You can feel Shaw grappling with these ideas, the weight of history, the possibilities of paint, all colliding on the canvas. We’re all just trying to figure out what it means to be human. And sometimes, it takes a painting to get us there, to start a conversation that echoes through time.