Le Guêpier – William-Adolphe Bouguereau

As an erotic romance writer, I spend a fair amount of time thinking and writing about the physical senses. This is far beyond just thinking about sex – which some people believe is all we think about. “Ha!” They scoff. “Writing about sex. Nice work if you can get it.” Those misguided comments are as useless as mud on my shoe. Erotic romance is so much more, and what inspires me in my writing is thinking about what’s sensual. When I’m writing a sex scene, what I really want to capture is the essence of all five senses – taste, touch, smell, sight, and sound. It’s not just about where the hero’s hands were and what they were doing, it’s about how my heroine feels as her guy is caressing her, tasting her, entering her. I want readers to be caught up in the sensual experience of the scene and have their pulses race as fast as my heroine’s is.

When I need a bit of sensual inspiration, I turn to the art of William-Adolphe Bouguereau. He was a 19th century French traditionalist painter. His art is interesting because his style is so different from that of the Impressionists, whose work was all the rage at the time when he was painting. The Impressionists, in fact, despised Bouguereau’s work. He painted in a naturalistic style and was influenced by many of the old masters such as Raphael. His art is beautiful, sensual, and erotic. If you find yourself needing a bit of visual stimulation, take a look through Bouguereau’s art. You can see his complete works here.