The Ashmolean

announces its new autumn exhibition and retail collection:

Aphrodite, The Making of a Goddess 

The Ashmolean’s autumn exhibition explores one of the ancient world's most enduring cultural icons. Bringing together archaeology, sculpture, painting, contemporary art and fashion, The Making of a Goddess traces Aphrodite’s journey and transformations from her earliest origins in the eastern Mediterranean, through the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, via Renaissance Europe, to our continuing fascination with her today.

Highlights include iconic ancient sculptures such as the Crouching Aphrodite (c. 199 CE) from the Royal Collection, a Capitoline Venus (c. 160 CE) on loan from the Louvre; Botticelli's Venus (c. 1490) from the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin; Antonio Canova's Venus Italica (1804–7); modern works by Yves Klein and Michelangelo Pistoletto; and Jonathan Anderson's Loewe dress, worn by Beyoncé.

In celebration of Aphrodite, a new and exclusively themed retail collection launches at the Ashmolean Museum Shop and online.

The UK-made range includes clothing and accessories, jewellery, framed prints, art books,

stationery (including postcards, sketchbooks, notebooks and note cards), food and drink

products, arts and crafts sets, wellness, children’s ranges, and interiors and ceramics.

A new and exclusive collection of pottery will be launched for Aphrodite in collaboration with Oxford-based ceramicist Emma Baldwin, whose work references historical, cultural, and contemporary sources, brought into the present through the use of experimental glaze techniques.

The exhibition is curated by Dr Anja Ulbrich, a leading expert on Cypriot archaeology and female deities of Cyprus. She says: ‘I first became fascinated by Cyprus while studying archaeology as a student, and I have spent much of my career exploring the island's ancient culture, religious traditions and Mediterranean connections. Aphrodite has been at the centre of my work. This exhibition brings together antiquities and European art, which I have studied and admired for many years, to tell the remarkable story of how a goddess worshipped in ancient Cyprus became one of the most enduring and recognisable figures in human history.’

ENDS

Media contact: For Ashmolean Shop product enquiries, please contact: Jo McConnell – jo@jomcconnellpr.com/ 07976 980 188

NOTES TO EDITORS

Exhibition: Aphrodite: The Making of a Goddess

Dates: 8 October 2026–11 April 2027

Venue: The John Sainsbury Exhibition Galleries Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PH

Admission: £8.10–£18

Tickets: Advance booking recommended: https://ashmolean.org/exhibitions.

Catalogue: The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue: £25, available at the Museum or online.

Press View: Monday 5 October 2026, 11:00–14:00