Park 1910

Gustav Klimt made *Park* with oil on canvas; it now resides at MoMA. Look at this canvas and try to imagine the patience involved in creating such a work! It’s like a sea of green, composed of tiny brushstrokes. Can you see them? How each dab of color creates a sense of texture. I imagine Klimt standing before the canvas, almost lost in contemplation, before adding each little mark to the surface. What was he thinking? Maybe he was thinking about Seurat, but with more… feeling. The trees become abstract shapes, and the surface dissolves into a shimmering tapestry of light and color. It reminds us that artists are always in conversation, borrowing and responding to one another’s ideas across time. Ultimately, painting is about feeling, about embodying the uncertainty and ambiguity of the world, and the many possibilities it holds.