Water Serpents II Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Description of Gustav Klimt’s painting Water Snakes

Gustav Klimt from 1904 to 1907 was engaged in painting two paintings with virtually the same subject matter, Water Snakes I and Water Snakes II.

The sight of these paintings, or rather these feminine figures, draws the viewer into a world of sweet fantasy, enchanting all men and young men with their appearance, causing a rapid heartbeat and rapid pulse. Such a subject had already been encountered in Gustav’s work in The Current and The Silverfish, and here, a few years later, he wrote two such works.

But what are these wondrous maidens, resembling overly slimmed down fairy tale mermaids in one painting and lively, young girls in the second? The title makes it clear that appearances can be deceiving, and these beauties remind one rather of Nymphs: they are just as cold and slippery, and all their charm is bestowed upon them by the icy ocean. They are happy in their kingdom, and in them does not live the desire for love or the search for a mate. But still the transparent pinkish skin, the bright red hair, the end of which merges with seaweed and water, and the natural forms of these maidens never cease to beguile.

Gustave loved to depict in his paintings the underwater kingdom with its inhabitants: fish, barnacles, mollusks and light seaweed. Amidst all the abyss and coral we see the image of a woman, to which all the symbols inevitably lead. In this inconceivable dream algae transforms into hair, everything merges: figures, shells, stars - into a single whole, into a composition where dark and light tones, bright and dim neighbors, turning everything in the picture into a shimmering magnificent symphony.

You can immediately notice that Klimt preferred to paint the female images of the men, the latter usually played the role of a living background, or were simply relegated to the background. But the women in his paintings are in all their glory, corresponding to the fantasies and desires of their creator.