AKHENATEN

NO FEAR OF EMOTION

Along with movement, there is emotion: the obligatory kissing, embracing and
caressing among the royal family, the mourning of the royal couple at the bier
of their daughter Meketaten, Nefertiti as a nursing mother and all the scenes of
intimacy that occur only in the art of Amarna.

All these are intended to depict how the love that emanated from the Aten de-
termined the togetherness of his creatures, as exemplified in Pharaoh's imme-
diate surroundings. And with that, any inhibitions against depicting and empha-
sizing emotion has vanished.

'HOLDING HANDS' -fragment of Akhenaten and Nefertiti Statue

A breath of previously unknown freedom seems to blow through this art and one has
the feeling that the artists must have done their work free of all former conventions.

But this is only one aspect, which was complemented by a strong commitment to the
principles, newly established by Akhenaten, as obligatory.

Even the "expressionism" of this art does not signify freedom, but rather represents
a binding obligation.

It is constantly stressed in the texts that the king himself established the guidelines
for artistic production.