Idyll's of Women

Francis Picabia, "Lady in the Face of Idol"

While in Hanold's mind he believes that his attraction to Gradiva is based on love and veneration, in fact his dedication is to his own attraction. This theme of the veneration of woman in thrall to the master of male desire can be seen in Surrealism as well; thus their fascination with Jensen's tale is not difficult to understand. The machine, like a fantasy image such as that presented in Gradiva, is a means of augmenting one's own power without surrendering agency to another. This is the connection between the image of Gradiva and the myth of the machine: they are not reviled, but "loved" within the bonds of control.

-Alan Foljambe, "Surrealism and the Story of Gradiva: Male Idealization of Women"