Women by the sea

Many women feel inspired by the sea. The roaring of the surf, the sight of blue without end, the taste of damp salt, the “breath of the sea”, as Sylvia Plath calls it, and the eternal transience of the waves revive memories, awakes longing and lend wings to the imagination.

From the beginning of time, water has been the very own element of women. Not only are they both of a dangerous invincibility, but as the moon controls the tides of nature so it controls the life of women in many a way – and that is the subject of this book. A woman will aim to be near the sea in order to feel its force as her own: to take long walks, to find herself, to rediscover peace and quiet, and to clear her thoughts.

On a sound historico-cultural fundament, Tania Schlie interprets the images and enfolds in front of the reader a phenomenology of women by the sea. There is the nymph and the nix, the goddess and the mermaid, the dreamer and the poetess, the seductress and the beach walker, the shell seeker and the bathing beauty, the lonely and the friend. They all offer access, not only in art, but also in real life, to a subject full of fascination yet to be discovered.

This book is beyond competition: With its 60 large reproductions of paintings, the book gives its subject an astonishing visual conciseness. An immensely beautiful book for women – to leaf through, to dwell on and to dream.