Walk through the great museums of the world and you’ll see how deeply Greek mythology still shapes our imagination. These aren’t just stories about gods and mortals, they’re lessons about ambition, love, suffering, and triumph that still resonate centuries later. Artists knew this, which is why they returned to myth again and again, chiseling, painting, and carving reminders of what it means to be human. Today, those works continue to inspire, and in some cases, can even find a place in our own homes.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace: A Goddess Who Still Inspires

Perched proudly at the Louvre Museum in Paris, The Winged Victory of Samothrace (190 BCE) is a marvel of movement and power. Though headless and armless, the goddess Nike leans forward, her robes billowing in invisible wind, her wings stretched wide as if she has just landed on the prow of a ship.

In myth, Nike was the goddess of victory, forever descending from the heavens to crown heroes in battle. She symbolized speed, strength, and the glory of triumph. Her image still echoes today, from Olympic medals to luxury car ornaments. The message endures: victory is rarely tidy, often incomplete, yet always worth celebrating.

The Lament for Icarus: The Beauty of a Fall

Herbert James Draper’s The Lament for Icarus (1898), displayed at Tate Britain in London, gives us a softer vision of one of mythology’s most tragic tales. Icarus, son of Daedalus, escaped Crete on wings of feathers and wax. But intoxicated by the thrill of flight, he soared too close to the sun. The wax melted, and he fell to his death.

Draper doesn’t show the fall but the aftermath, nymphs mourning Icarus’s lifeless body. The myth is a warning against hubris, but Draper paints it as something more: the beauty of daring. In our own lives, who hasn’t risked too much, only to learn the hard way? The painting asks us not just to fear ambition, but to honor it, even when it falters.

Laocoön and His Sons: The Cost of Truth

One of the most harrowing sculptures in history, Laocoön and His Sons (c. 200 BCE) can be found at the Vatican Museums in Rome. It shows the Trojan priest and his children in the coils of sea serpents. According to myth, Laocoön had warned the Trojans not to accept the Greek wooden horse. The gods, siding with the Greeks, punished him with a death so violent it silenced his warnings.

The sculpture is agony carved into marble, twisting bodies, straining muscles, anguished faces. It speaks of truth and its price, of courage and its consequence. It is not comfortable art, but perhaps that is why it has endured.

Narcissus: The Mirror That Consumes Us

Caravaggio’s Narcissus (1599), housed at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica in Rome, is haunting in its simplicity. A boy leans over a pool of water, captivated by his own reflection. The myth tells us that Narcissus, so consumed by self-love, wasted away until he became a flower.

Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro heightens the drama, the bright beauty of Narcissus against the dark void that swallows him. It is a cautionary tale that feels startlingly modern. In a world of mirrors, selfies, and curated feeds, the myth asks: where is the line between self-expression and self-obsession?

Bringing Mythology Home: The Guadarte Collection at Maison Sia

While these treasures remain in Paris, London, and Rome, mythology can still live with us. The Guadarte Collection, available at Maison Sia, brings echoes of the classical world into contemporary interiors through masterfully handcrafted works made in Spain. The Bust of Apollo Belvedere recalls the Greek god Apollo after his legendary defeat of the serpent Python with bow and arrow, a victory that established him as the deity of music, poetry, prophecy, and light, embodying beauty and divine order. Alongside it, the Bust of Medusa, faithful to the famed Rondanini Medusa, captures the tragic power of the maiden cursed by Athena, transformed into a Gorgon whose gaze could turn men to stone. More than décor, these pieces serve as fragments of myth, reminders that our homes can hold not only style but story.

What these masterpieces of Greek mythology teach us is simple: art is not just something to look at, but something to live with. Victory, ambition, vanity, truth, these themes aren’t locked in the past; they are part of our present. To place a mythological sculpture in your home is not just to decorate, but to invite centuries of wisdom and wonder into your daily life. And in that sense, Greek mythology remains exactly what it always was, a guide for how to be human.