The nude human body has often been a locus for controversy in modern Western art, from the shocking realism of Courbet’s Origin of the World and Manet’s Olympia to more recent radical treatments of the nude in contemporary art. Over 90 artists who have made notable achievements in the genre are examined here, including Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, Frida Kahlo, Balthus, Arthur Boyd, Marcel Duchamp and Rebecca Horn. Body shows that the subject remains available and relevant to the artists of any era.