Key Points
- Aphrodite: The Making of a Goddess opened at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford on 8 October 2026.
- The exhibition runs until 11 April 2027 and presents more than 150 objects spanning over 5,000 years.
- Highlights include a Capitoline Venus from the Louvre, Botticelli’s Venus and contemporary works linked to Beyoncé.
- The exhibition traces Aphrodite’s development from an ancient Cypriot deity to the Roman goddess Venus and a modern cultural symbol.
Oxford (Oxford Daily) October 28, 2026 – The Ashmolean Museum’s Aphrodite: The Making of a Goddess is bringing ancient sculpture, Renaissance painting, contemporary art and fashion together in Oxford. The exhibition examines how Aphrodite developed from a deity worshipped in ancient Cyprus into the Greek goddess of love, beauty and desire, later known as Venus in Roman culture. It includes more than 150 objects and remains open until 11 April 2027.
What does the Ashmolean’s Aphrodite exhibition include?
As reported by The Oxford Student, the exhibition spans the ancient world to the modern era and includes sculpture, paintings, archaeological objects, fashion and contemporary art. The displays explore changing ideas about the goddess, including the role of nudity in representations of the female body.
Reported highlights include the Crouching Aphrodite, a Capitoline Venus on loan from the Louvre, Botticelli’s Venus from Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie, and works by Yves Klein and Michelangelo Pistoletto. Other loans come from Cyprus, Europe and North America, alongside objects from the Ashmolean’s own collections.
How is Botticelli connected to the exhibition?
Botticelli’s full-scale Venus, painted around 1490, is displayed in the final gallery. As reported by Mirage News, the painting demonstrates how Renaissance artists reinterpreted the ancient goddess as an ideal of female beauty. The work belongs to the same period as Botticelli’s better-known Birth of Venus.
The exhibition also places Botticelli’s painting alongside Renaissance material that reflects the continuing influence of classical models, including drawings associated with Raphael’s treatment of nude female figures.
Why is Beyoncé featured in the Oxford exhibition?
Jonathan Anderson’s Loewe dress, redesigned for Beyoncé’s 2023 Renaissance world tour, represents the goddess’s influence on contemporary fashion. The garment included a hand design referring to the Venus Pudica pose, in which the figure covers parts of the body.
Reports from The Oxford Student and Greek Reporter state that the dress connects the ancient visual tradition with a modern performance audience. The exhibition therefore presents Aphrodite not only as a subject of classical art but also as an image reworked in popular culture.
What historical development does the exhibition trace?
The exhibition follows Aphrodite’s origins in the eastern Mediterranean, particularly ancient Cyprus, before examining her place in Greek and Roman traditions. In Roman culture, the goddess was worshipped as Venus. The displays then follow her reappearance in Renaissance Europe and her continued use in modern art, fashion and popular culture.
Related coverage reported by Greek Reporter describes the exhibition as a study of an enduring cultural icon whose meaning has changed across different periods. The exhibition also addresses how artistic representations of the nude shaped later ideas about beauty and the female body.
What could the exhibition mean for Oxfordshire Guardian readers?
The exhibition is likely to give Oxfordshire Guardian readers a local cultural event that links Oxford’s museum collections with internationally recognised works and contemporary fashion. Its combination of ancient objects, Botticelli’s painting and a garment associated with Beyoncé may broaden its appeal beyond traditional classical-art audiences.
For residents and visitors, the exhibition offers a way to consider how ideas about beauty, identity and the female body have changed over time. Its run until 11 April 2027 also provides an extended opportunity for schools, students, families and tourists to visit the Ashmolean.
Background
Aphrodite: The Making of a Goddess opened at the Ashmolean Museum on 8 October 2026. The exhibition covers more than 5,000 years of history through objects from ancient Cyprus, Greece and Rome, Renaissance Europe and contemporary culture. Its central subject was worshipped as Aphrodite in Greek tradition and Venus in Roman tradition. The Ashmolean has presented the exhibition as an examination of how the goddess has been repeatedly reshaped by artists and wider culture.
