Art

The Hope of Gustav Klimt

Hope II is an oil painting by Gustav Klimt painted in 1907-08, gold, and platinum. The painting is part of the collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Klimt used golds in his paintings and his rich ornamental style is one of a kind. Look at the way he’s painted the garment worn by the main figure, how it’s an abstracted shape decorated with circles yet we still perceive it as a cloak or dress.

Klimt, “applied real gold and silver leaf in order to heighten still further the impression that the painting is a precious object” said Frank Whitford in his illustrated biography of Gustav Klimt.

Klimt, a native of Vienna, Austria drew his inspiration from Eastern cultures, from Byzantine art, Mycenean metalwork, Japanese screens and Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Klimt is one of the rising stars of recent years, some of his paintings, like the famous Kiss, have become a household name throughout the world.