A striking and iconic gelatin silver print by Richard Avedon, this photograph captures actress Nastassja Kinski lying nude with a large Burmese python draped across her body, its head resting gently against her face. Avedon's masterful use of stark black-and-white contrast and a plain white background strips away all distraction, placing full emphasis on the intimate and primal connection between the subject and the serpent. The image is both sensual and mythological in quality, evoking themes of temptation, nature, and vulnerability that have made it one of the most recognized portrait photographs of the twentieth century.