DAVID AND BATHSHEBA (II) 1985

Ernst Fuchs painted "David and Bathsheba (II)" with an approach to color that’s, well, kind of psychedelic. I see a process of layering, a building up of tones to create these almost otherworldly figures. There’s this incredible texture in the robes and headdresses; it feels like Fuchs was really digging into the paint, letting it build and create its own landscape. The colors are intense, almost vibrating against each other, but it's the single tear running down David's face that really gets me. It's a tiny detail, but it speaks volumes about guilt and desire, the push and pull of human emotion. It's like he’s not just painting a scene, but a whole internal world. Fuchs reminds me a bit of Gustav Klimt, in that both artists were exploring these psychological and spiritual realms through intense color and ornamentation. Art, after all, is an ongoing conversation.