The visual language of the contemporary Brooklyn-based artist Matt Hansel (born 1977, Virginia, USA.) beautifully blends the classical illusion with the surreal disruption thus showing both his technical skills and his vibrant imagination. Hansel borrows heavily from the old masters, mostly the Dutch Renaissance. Looking at his paintings seen in Fig.8., and Fig.9, we might recognise the echoes of the surrealist compositions by Hieronymus Bosch seen in his ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’ and other paintings. Demons appears suspiciously too often in Hansel’s paintings and that is another nod to Bosch’s imaginary world. In Fig.9. the demon and the women are seen posing on a rock and they appear as if they are taking a selfie but instead of a phone the demon is holding a mirror; this is, of course, very relatable to our twenty-first century selfie and Instagram culture, recording the moment in images, but instead there is a mirror so they are just gazing at themselves, not recording themselves for the future memory. Also, as we are seeing them from the back it is only through the mirror that we can actually see their faces, partly so, but it is still clever. Hansel’s art is full of such funny, witty and strange details. The titles of his paintings too are so clever and often he is playing with words or adding an extra layer of meaning to the already rich visual image that he presents.
Fig.1 Matthew Hansel, Folie à deux, 2025
Fig.2 Matt Hansel, Under The Cover Of Night We Sleep On Pillows Made Of Stars, 2025
Fig.3 Matt Hansel, View From The Riverbank, 2024, oil and flesh paint on linen
Precis Brushstroke
Hansel paints his figures with smooth skin tones, in careful light, with a convincing depth, but he will then purposefully destabilise the illusion of reality with the impossible imagery. These distortions are very clever and carefully planned and one feels as if Hansel is always one step ahead of the viewer; gazing at his paintings we never know what to expect next. Reality changes with every precise brushstroke. The effect is the sort of painting that is theatrical and psychologically charged. His women are sensual, but not passive and they always have an air of mystery around them. In Hansel’s work erotic element is not merely about nudity or sexual suggestion, but about creating an atmosphere; the charged space between exposure and concealment, between fantasy and emotion.
Fig.4 Matt Hansel, The Hermit and The Muse, 2024
Fig.5 Matt Hansel, All Tied Up In Forget-Me-Knots, 2025
Aesthetic Longing
Eroticism in art has always been strongest when it operates through suggestion rather than exposure. Hansel understands this intuitively. Even when the body is revealed, there remains an atmosphere of withheld meaning. The viewer sees the body, but does not fully possess the person. This creates a kind of aesthetic longing. Desire is sustained not by explicitness but by mystery. This sense of mystery is heightened by Hansel’s painterly technique. His surfaces are smooth yet luminous and his use of light gives the flesh a kind of radiance. Skin becomes the site of visual pleasure not because it is anatomically explicit, but because it is treated as sensuous material: warm, glowing, soft. In this way, Hansel continues a long painterly tradition in which the erotic is expressed through the sensual qualities of paint itself. Flesh is not simply depicted; it is caressed by the brush.
Fig.6 Matt Hansel, An Affair in Two Parts With a Brief Intermission, 2024
Fig.7
Emotional Spaces
There is something almost cinematic in the way Hansel stages his scenes. His compositions often feel like fragments from an unfolding drama, as if the viewer has entered a private moment without fully knowing what came before or what will happen next. This theatricality distinguishes his work from purely illustrative erotic art. These are not just images of naked bodies; they are constructed emotional spaces. Bedsheets, mirrors, dim lighting, and carefully posed gestures all contribute to an atmosphere of narrative suspense. This theatrical quality also gives the women in his work a performative dimension. They are often aware of being seen, but that awareness becomes part of the erotic charge. The paintings stage desire as a kind of ritual of looking, in which viewer and subject are engaged in a silent exchange. Yet because the women often appear composed and self-possessed, the viewer’s role remains uncertain. Are we voyeurs, admirers, participants, or intruders? Hansel’s work gains psychological depth by refusing to answer this clearly.
Fig.8 Matt Hansel, The Couple, 2023
Fig.9 Matt Hansel, Selfie, 2023
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