Thomas Hart Benton, American, 1889-1975
Persephone, ca. 1938
Alternate Title: Rape of Persephone

Tempera with oil glazes on canvas, mounted on panel
Unframed: 72 1/8 x 56 1/16 inches (183.2 x 142.4 cm) Framed: 87 x 71 x 5 inches (220.98 x 180.34 x 12.7 cm)

Purchase: acquired through the Yellow Freight Foundation Art Acquisition Fund and the generosity of Mrs. Herbert O. Peet, Richard J. Stern, the Doris Jones Stein Foundation, the Jacob L. and Ella C. Loose Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Levin, and Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Rich, F86-57

Location: Gallery 217

A native Missourian, Thomas Hart Benton grew to fame and notoriety in the 1930s as a leader of the movement known as regionalism. Among Benton's most important easel paintings, Persephone recasts an ancient Greek myth in a contemporary, rural guise. The myth accounts for changes in the seasons. Famously beautiful, Persephone was abducted by Hades, lord of the dead, who imprisoned her in the underworld. Provisionally released after her father Zeus intervened, Persephone was required to return to the underworld for one-third of every year. Her mother Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, was so saddened and angered over her daughter's fate that she refused to allow crops and vegetation to grow during these four months.

Benton's Persephone appears as a farm girl caught sunbathing. Hades is shown as a lustful, aging farmer, his rickety cart in the background alluding to the god's chariot. The farmer's facial features appear similar to Benton's own, although he used another man for his model. The natural setting on the banks of a creek suggests an arcadian landscape as well as the traditional venue for skinny-dipping. Shamelessly naked, Persephone evokes the Old Master tradition of the female nude as well as 1930s pin-ups.