Hope II 1908

Gustav Klimt made 'Hope II' with oil paint, and probably some gold leaf, right around 1907-08. It's kind of a wild thing, the way he just lets those colours and shapes bounce off each other. The circles and spirals remind me of cells under a microscope. It makes me think of the endless curiosity and experimentation in art making, like a scientist playing around in a lab. The surface is amazing, isn't it? All that texture and shimmer. The way the gold leaf catches the light gives it this ethereal quality. But then you get close and see it’s also really physical, all that thick, luscious paint! I keep coming back to the woman’s belly - it's such a vulnerable, raw, and exposed form. It's as if the whole painting is about the fragility and strength of life itself. Klimt’s pal Egon Schiele also dove deep into similar themes but with even more raw and expressive lines. It’s like they were both trying to capture something essential about being human, but with totally different attitudes. Art is always an ongoing conversation between artists, where the questions are more important than the answers.