Sea Monsters (2004-2003) - I did the Mermaid Venus at the Met from the one of the most popular figure paintings in the 19th century,Alexandre Cabanel's The Birth of Venus. I always thought she would make a great mermaid and it worked. The White Whale has been my most popular picture from Sea Monsters so far. It had its debut at the Met . So it was in the big time for a few weeks.