This intimate collection of two millennia of erotic art takes a fresh look at the genre, offering provocative insights into what distinguishes the merely titillating from the masterful.

For centuries, erotic art has brought together the intense passions of both artistic expression and human sexuality. This volatile mixture continues to draw a full spectrum of reactions, from ecstasy to outrage. Above all, it provokes an unquenchable curiosity that lures us into the mysterious realm of forbidden art. Featured here, in beautiful color, are over 500 works of erotic art. Through drawings, paintings, and sculpture, these visions of erotica span diverse countries, cultures, centuries, and lifestyles. Whether it is controversial, humorous, lovely, deviant, mythical, or even instructional, each piece was created within the boundaries of its own social context, and provides a candid, thought-provoking glimpse into another time and place.