Memories of Beauty and Darkness: Inspired by Hygieia from Klimt’s “Medicine” and Mucha’s “Salomé”
Watercolor, gouache, metallic paint on board
In adolescence, the world shifts, and we reach out to catch bits of the world that filter through and are caught by our molting bodies. Within this altering space, Art Nouveau grounded me and inspired me. The contrast between delicate natural forms and bold outlines, the melding of figure and decoration, the connection of order and wildness–these all pulled me and my sketchbook through change.
Looking back, I suspect my long-term infatuation with Art Nouveau lies in a kind of austere tangibility in its contrasts. The people in Alphonse Mucha’s work have an air of otherworldly nonchalance, reminding me of Classical sculptures of Greek and Roman gods, beautiful but inaccessible. Yet the illustrative quality of Mucha’s lines brings the figures down to earth and not just earth, but right to us. Mucha’s art made me feel like art was possible and that beauty belonged in this world, in our lives.
A little later, Gustav Klimt’s work fueled and challenged my creativity when I was commissioned to paint a study of Klimt’s “Beethoven Frieze: The Arts, Choir of Angels, Embracing Couple.” Being 15 at the time, I didn’t comprehend the challenge ahead of me. Over the course of an entire year, I practiced and researched and practiced again, all the while wondering if I was crazy to complete such a task. But I did.
Amid the research, I reached out to the Secession Building and museum in Vienna (click here for the history of the building and artistic movement), where Klimt’s freeze is housed. While emailing someone at the Secession Building about the Freeze’s dimensions, I realized I was communicating with someone overseas who may have felt as moved by Klimt’s work as I did.
Nearly four years ago now, amid all the research and painting, I wrote,
“There is something about “The Beethoven Frieze” that feels like sitting by a fire on a cold winter day: to fully enjoy warmth even if cold seeps in at the corners, to know comfort while excepting that the darkness outside exists.”
Where Mucha’s work reminds me of the intricate and simple beauty all around me, Klimt’s work reminds me that to understand this beauty, I must also understand, and perhaps befriend, the darkness and complexity that intensifies what is beautiful in our world.
I chose to meld two works from these artists for today’s piece. The first work in this amalgamation is Mucha’s “Salomé from L’Estampe moderne, no. 2 1897,” chosen because it continually inspired me as I’ve grown up, reminding me of an elegant sort of freedom. The second work is the figure of Hygieia in Klimt’s “Medicine“ from the University of Vienna Ceiling Paintings. This piece inspired me because it no longer exists: it is believed that in 1945, this piece was destroyed by retreating Nazis. “Medicine“ and the figures within it no longer exist.
294 days done, 71 to go.
NadiaCDM 