Am Steinhof Church, Design for the right side altar Guardian Angel 1904

Koloman Moser designed this study for a side altar in the Am Steinhof Church, using watercolor and metal paint. Imagine Moser, wrestling with this composition, trying to convey the ethereal quality of a guardian angel and its protected figure. He’s layering these precise strokes, those tiny dots and dashes, building up the angel’s wings with geometric motifs in cool blues and whites, like some otherworldly bird. I wonder if Moser thought about the challenges in conveying the concept of 'protection', the feeling of safety, of guidance. The angel's gaze is soft, the hand outstretched, a gesture of gentle reassurance. I see a conversation here, between the decorative elements and the emotive power of the figures. It connects with other artists who grappled with similar themes, from William Blake to Gustav Klimt, all searching for a visual language to express the invisible forces that shape our lives. It is about expressing something just beyond our grasp, a whisper of the divine captured in paint.