Who's Musing Who?

A new era of musical muses, from Megan Fox to Kourtney Kardashian, invites the question. AS THE GREAT modern philosopher Julia Fox once said, “You’re either born a muse or you’re not.”

By her own meme-ified suggestion, the actress has been a source of inspiration to many. Most notably, Uncut Gems codirector Josh Safdie and her former paramour Kanye West. Say what you will about the veracity of Fox’s claim, but her allusion to this mythical role was a callback to one of history’s oldest tropes. In ancient Greece, Muses were goddesses and sources of inspiration for the arts and sciences. In more recent eras, this embodiment of the divine feminine came down to earth—and started dating an artist or a musician. Think of Picasso’s lover and subject Dora Maar; Kiki de Montparnasse, who appeared nearly nude in some of Man Ray’s surrealist photos; or the fictional Penny Lane in Almost Famous.