Salomania: A Sensational History of Salome in Art, Dance, Film, and Opera
Salomania was a performance phenomenon and cultural craze that swept through America and Europe during the early years of the 20th century. It sprang from a popular reinterpretation of the story of Salome, a figure alluded to in the New Testament who danced for a king and, as a reward, requested a head on a silver platter.
Oscar Wilde lit the fuse for Salomania with his play Salome, published in English in 1894 with Aubrey Beardsley’s iconic illustrations. The play and Beardsley’s drawings conveyed decadence, morbidity, and sensuality—qualities that shocked the Victorian world.
Further controversy followed as the newly eroticized Salome appeared in Richard Strauss’s opera, and the craze grew to a fever pitch with Maud Allan’s 1908 interpretive theatrical dance in London. In the years that followed, the character of Salome appeared on Broadway stages and in silent films. This site explores how the Salome story, in its many incarnations, shaped early twentieth-century popular culture and opened unexpected pathways for spectacle, sensation, and women’s self-expression.
Salome on Canvas: From Dutiful Daughter to Mad Femme Fatale
For centuries, European artists imagined Salome as a dutiful daughter serving her mother’s wicked intention. Beginning in the 19th century, artists began depicting her as a symbol of erotic menace and dangerous feminine power. In paintings by Gustave Moreau and illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley, she emerges as an exotic, hypnotic femme fatale. Influenced by Orientalism and Symbolist aesthetics, these portrayals reveal deeper cultural anxieties about gender, sexuality, and control. Salome’s image eventually crossed into advertising and popular culture, where she continued to challenge—and exploit—the boundaries of morality, desire, and respectability.
→ Read more about Salome in paintings here
Oscar Wilde Makes Salome Sexy and Dangerous
In early 20th-century America, Salome captivated and scandalized the public, transforming her from a biblical footnote into a symbol of sensual rebellion. On stage and in the press, she became a lightning rod for anxieties about gender, sexuality, and modernity. A bare midriff and a suggestive dance were enough to provoke moral panic—and to signal a shift in women’s cultural power.
→ Read more about Salomania’s public impact here
Richard Strauss and the Rise of Salomania Opera
When Richard Strauss adapted Oscar Wilde’s Salome into opera, he unleashed one of the most controversial—and successful—works of the early 20th century. Banned in Vienna and shut down in New York, the opera fused lush orchestration with violent sensuality and provoked scandal. Yet it also made Strauss wealthy and elevated Salome to operatic legend. From Marie Wittich’s reluctant debut to a wave of celebrated sopranos across Europe and America, Salome became a vehicle for exploring taboo desire, female power, and artistic transgression.
→ Read more about Strauss’s Salome and the opera’s explosive debut
Salome Dance Launches Salomania
The modern interpretation of the Salome dance emerged through art dance movements at the turn of the 20th century. Performers such as Maud Allan, Loie Fuller, Adorée Villany, Ida Rubinstein, Aida Overton Walker, and Ruth St. Denis brought Salome to life through stylized—often scandalous—performances. Drawing from ballet, Orientalist spectacle, modern dance, and avant-garde provocation, their interpretations blurred the line between art and sensuality. From royal endorsements to public outrage, these women captivated audiences and provoked lasting controversy.
→ Read more about provocative Salome-inspired art dance
Salome the Vamp: Salomania and the Movies
Salomania swept early cinema as directors across Europe and America reimagined Salome in silent film. Starting in 1901 Hungary, Salome embodied sensual rebellion. Florence Lawrence starred in Vitagraph’s Salome (1908), followed by Theda Bara’s scandalous 1918 version, which made headlines for its lavish eroticism. Alla Nazimova’s 1923 avant-garde take was a critical flop but later hailed as visionary. Other portrayals—by Gloria Swanson, Marcella Albani, and Jetta Goudal—reinforced Salome’s image as a seductive femme fatale. These silent-era films show how Salome captivated audiences and symbolized transgressive modern femininity onscreen.
→ Read more about the Salome Films
For Further Reading
