Have you ever thought that pain is just the opposite of pleasure?
Painful pleasure. Plaisurable pain.
Maybe that’s why melancholia is dangerous and difficult to get rid of. This kind of sadistic pleasure is easier to reach and probably artistically more productive.
The painting above is Guido Reni’s Saint Sebastian. Beautiful and suffering.
PS Must say this saint is the perfect excuse to exercise on male body, young and delicate, without being compromised by the church.
