Arts & Culture

Fantasy in art and design

When creative inspiration strikes beyond the ordinary

When we fantasize, we feel catapulted into a state of mind where all kinds of imaginary things are possible.

Fantasy is often perceived as daydreaming and wish-fulfilling reverie in the absence of logic and pragmatism.

But fantasy can become reality. We can design and construct material objects that invoke the dreamy, ephemeral, wandering mind, and tell the stories that happen when boundaries disappear.

Creators can access such fantasy to express their dreams and imaginations.

Let’s explore!

Botticelli’s Venus rising up from the giant clam shell

One of the world’s most famous painting, Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, is a masterpiece of fantastical inspiration.

The Venus reverie

Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus (Nascita di Venere), 1483–1485. Early Renaissance painting on canvas in tempera, 172.5 x 278.9 cm. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy. [1,2]

Painted in the very center of the canvas, Botticelli celebrates the goddess Venus arising out of a giant clam shell, having been born just a few moments before.

She is emerging from the sea as an already grown and stunningly beautiful young woman with flowing hair so long that it might just touch her heels.