Get ready for beach season with these artists' looks at bathers, from Paul Cézanne to Eric Fischl, in a new show in London

As an “ode to the ultimate muse of summer”, the London gallery Saatchi Yates has organized the exhibition “Bathers”, on view until August 10.

Artists have depicted this subject since classical antiquity, showing mythical scenes like that of the hunter Actaeon stumbling upon the goddess Diana bathing in the woods, by Ovid Metamorphosesand Venus emerging from her birthplace in the sea.

Explicitly exploring the more erotic dimensions of the subject, artists have depicted the scene from Susanna and the Elders, in which two old men spy on a young woman bathing. The subject continues to the Cubist treatment of the figure by Picasso, who frequently depicted women at the beach, and contemporary images that address the inclusion of the types of figures that do not appear in traditional Western art.

An installation view of “Bathers”. Photo: courtesy of Saatchi Yates.

In the Saatchi Yates exhibition, historical artists from Paul Cézanne to Pablo Picasso and JMW Turner deal with the subject, as well as younger figures like Peter Doig, Eric Fischl, Sujin Lee and Henry Taylor.

“The bathers in painting are both varied and fundamental to the human condition,” says art critic Martin Gayford, who wrote an essay for the catalog. “The combination of naked bodies and water can evoke primordial innocence without guilt: a sinless Eden. On the other hand, the same visual ingredients can suggest the consequences of the fall of Eve and Adam: guilt, lust, death.

“In both cases, the subject combines in a neat whole two of the main preoccupations of artists for many centuries – the landscape and the nude,” Gayford continues. “It is no surprise that bathers have preoccupied painters for so long, and it is likely that the combination of water and human bodies will continue to intrigue them for a long time to come.”

Below, check out some highlights from the show.

Denijs Van Alsloot, A forest landscape, with Diana discovering Callisto’s pregnancy and a view of Groenendael Priory (1614). Photo: courtesy of Saatchi Yates.