These exquisite photographs by the controversial master Robert Mapplethorpe changed the way we think about beauty [NSFW]

A huge exhibition of work by the legendary photographer Robert Mapplethorpe is currently on display in a beautiful exhibition in Rome.

The final leg of the “The Forms of Beauty” tour, which has previously travelled to Venice and Milan will be at the Museo dell’Ara Pacis in Rome until October, and is well worth a visit.

With around 200 photographs included in the show, it explores the concept of beauty as displayed through perfection and formal rigour.

Using his Hasselblad, it’s been commented that Mapplethorpe didn’t simply take photographs, he sculpted space. Each of his shots is imbued with classicism, geometry and the ultimate search for perfection.

Michael Roth, 1983 – Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by permission

Some of the photographs in the exhibition have never been dis…