Sex, intimacy, and the nude have always occupied a central place in art history. From the voluptuously shaped fruits in Renaissance frescoes—subtle allusions to human desire—to the unabashed directness of Gustave Courbet’s L’Origine du monde, artists have long used imagery to probe the complexities of the erotic and the intimate. Today, this tradition continues, but in ways that reflect our shifting cultural landscapes, anxieties, and freedoms. In this article, I focus on contemporary painters who have, in recent years, engaged directly with themes of sex, intimacy, and nudity. Their works do not merely reproduce art historical tropes, but rather challenge, subvert, and expand them—often blending tenderness with provocation, vulnerability with boldness. By spotlighting these voices, we see how contemporary painting continues to wrestle with one of art’s oldest subjects, bringing it into dialogue with the urgent questions of our time.
8. Betty Tompkins
Betty Tompkins (b. 1945, Washington, D.C., the United States of America) is recognized for her uncompromising depictions of the female body and sexuality. Since the late 1960s, she has challenged taboos through her Fuck Paintings series, appropriating imagery produced for male consumption and reframing it within critical debates on representation, style, and scale. Describing herself as an “accidental dissident,” Tompkins has spent five decades confronting censorship while redefining how women’s bodies and sexual desire can be portrayed in art.