Icon of Erotic Art #44 is Femme damnée a painting by Octave Tassaert, or more accurately, ascribed to Tassaert.
Its title, Femmes damnées is also the title of at least two poems by Baudelaire, one from the collection Les Fleurs du mal and the other from Les Épaves. The subject matter of Femmes damnées (« À la pâle clarté ») is the forbidden love which is lesbian in nature. Its subtitle is Delphine and Hippolyte.
It is also the title of a 1885 sculpture by Rodin and a 1897 painting by Carlos Schwabe.
Octave Tassaert could equally titled the painting Heaven, Hell or Animal Joy.
Playing on the prejudices of one’s age inculcates the culture of the time even on pictures. Paintings should and they do leave room for one’s judgement and apprieciation