Frédéric Cousinié's 'Esthétique des fluides' Traces Bodily Fluids in Classical Painting

In 'Esthétique des fluides', Frédéric Cousinié examines the presence of bodily fluids—blood, sperm, excrement—in classical painting, challenging contemporary taboos around such imagery in art. He focuses on 'objets-limites' where the represented object and the painting's material converge. Examples include Philippe de Champaigne's 'Dead Christ', where blood from the wound invites mystical identification, and Jacques Blanchard's 'Danaë', where Zeus's golden rain parallels Aphrodite's foam, dissolving figuration into apotheosis. Claude Le Lorrain's 'Landscape with Vintage Scene' features scatological putti, echoing bacchic and saturnalian traditions. The book argues that fluidity in paint—jets, stains, drips—reproduces not nature but the act of generation itself, through bodily jouissance. Claire Margat reviews the work.