Egg tempera on fiberboard 129.0 x 89.0 cm (50" 1/2 x 35" 1/8) USA - Washington DC - National Smithsonian American Art Museum During a playful conversation, Cadmus was asked: "What if you were at the retrospective and there was a fire, and you could snatch one painting to rescue from the flames?" He responded quickly, "Night in Bologna is the summa of my career." This painting synthesizes every element of Cadmus's allegorical, narrative-driven imagery. Powerful sexual and psychic tension locks three people in a triangle resembling Piero's Flagellation, the image Cadmus considered "the most perfect painting in the world." Night in Bologna depicts a farce of miscalculated seductions. An Italian soldier yearns for a curvaceous female hooker; she, in turn, tries to seduce a crewcut American tourist (Cadmus?), while he gazes back at the Italian man with envy. It is a desire triangle with no one getting what they want. This probably reflects some of the loneliness Cadmus was having at the time.