The
nude figure is mainly a tradition in
Western art, and has been used to express ideals of male and female beauty and other human qualities. It was a central preoccupation of
Ancient Greek art, and after a semi-dormant period in the Middle Ages returned to a central position in Western art with the
Renaissance. Athletes, dancers, and warriors are depicted to express human energy and life, and nudes in various poses may express basic or complex emotions such as
pathos. In one sense, a nude is a work of
fine art that has as its primary subject the unclothed human body, forming a subject genre of art, in the same way as
landscapes and
still life. Unclothed figures often also play a part in other types of art, such as
history painting, including allegorical and
religious art,
portraiture, or the
decorative arts.