DEYANIRA’ S TEMPTATIONS, 2019.

Oil on canvas

In a world where myth collides with urban decay, Deyanira’s Temptations stages a scene filled with symbolic tension. The central figure, inspired by the mythical Deianira —wife of Hercules and emblem of love, betrayal, and destiny— appears reimagined in modern elegance: seated gracefully atop a classical centaur, with a rose in her lap and a quiet confidence in her gaze.

Around them, crumbling Corinthian columns stand amid a derelict industrial interior, some adorned with graffiti, others broken and leaning. This contrast evokes a powerful visual metaphor—the eternal struggle between instinct and reason, between the primal and the civilized.

The centaur, strong and gleaming, is not just a mythological being; he represents raw desire and ancient masculinity, seemingly subdued under the woman’s composed presence. Yet she does not appear threatened—instead, she commands the scene. Is she the temptress, or the tempted?

Scattered papers and a fallen Spartan helmet allude to the erosion of time, forgotten battles, and the fragments of stories retold throughout history. This painting becomes a liminal space—where Greek mythology finds itself trapped in a post-industrial alleyway, a forgotten temple reclaimed by modernity.

Deyanira’s Temptations is more than a painting—it is a visual dialogue between the eternal and the ephemeral, the divine and the human. An allegory, like all great temptations, that never fully resolves.

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Contact the artist [jcruzhlg76@gmail.com]