Representing the human body has been one of the major themes throughout art history since prehistoric times. In fact, among the paintings that have marked history, many are nude paintings of bodies, more specifically naked woman. The body is a fantastic source of inspiration for an artist because it is simultaneously the embodiment of beauty, desire, reverie and the forbidden. And it is often the nude paintings that cause scandal in art. Over the centuries and across movements, nude paintings have created an aesthetic of the body and beauty. Beyond the subject represented, the painters create imagery of the human body, often very personal and sometimes even against the artistic rules of their time.

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. Media in category "Nude standing women with body painting" The following files are in this category, out of total. A rollerblading, painted, naked woman. Action Bar

The occasion was NYC Bodypainting Day , organized by Andy Golub and Young Naturists America, and, after spending a couple of hours watching dozens of artists do incredible things to these gloriously nude "canvases", who, as a whole, boasted an extraordinary range of body types, I'd have to say the banner is correct. Not that every work of bodypainting here was a great piece of art, though most were pretty amazing. It's just that after a while you don't see, and think about, these nude physical people in the way that you're used to—as sexy, say, or imperfect, or unappealing, or sensational. Suddenly they all look good, or at least they all look different, but in different ways than before, and it made me wish that I and everyone else could appreciate and instantly see the beauty in all bodies as a matter of course.