Head of Medusa | Peter Paul Rubens | 1618 Jean-Leon Gerome also known as Alix of

also known as Alix of France

and the city crumbles under the weight of unseen catastrophe

Through this intricate composition

The juxtaposition of these items in the desolate landscape plays with themes of the absurd and the unknown

engulfing them in chaos and despair

Head of Medusa | Peter Paul Rubens | 1618 Jean-Leon Gerome also known as Alix ofRubens captures the severed head of Medusa at the very climax of her myth, moments after the hero Perseus has decapitated her. Her eyes, once capable of turning men to stone, are now frozen open in a grotesque expression of terror and agony. But Rubens does not stop at horrorhe transforms the myth into a Baroque spectacle. The painter surrounds her lifeless face with a chaotic mass of writhing snakes that seem to spill out of the canvas, some even