Water Snakes (Watersnakes I or Water Serpents I)

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Water Snakes (Watersnakes I or Water Serpents I): Gustave Klimt

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Art Type: Oil Painting
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Gustave Klimt Oil Painting - Water Snakes (Watersnakes I or Water Serpents I)

Keywords: Water, Snakes, Watersnakes, Water, Serpents

Work Overview: Water Snakes (Watersnakes I; Water Serpents I)
Gustav Klimt
Date: 1904 - 1907
Style: Art Nouveau (Modern), Japonism
Period: Golden phase
Genre: symbolic painting
Media: watercolor, parchment mixed media on vellum
Dimensions: 20 x 50 cm
Location: Belvedere, Vienna, Austria

Painted by using various techniques, from watercolour to tempera, to using gold leaf on parchment. The composition proposes stretched figures in slender shapes typical of the Jugendstil, but its central motif is the bombastic decoration of the golden period, played in the abstract yet allusive illustration of the embrace and the mosaic of open almonds.

Wasserschlangen marks a climax within Klimt’s oeuvre. Involvement with underwater beings was for the Symbolists a way to articulate the unexploited transcendental universes to humans. Additionally it provided the possibility to show the feminine body in an erotic context without fearing censorship. Klimt’s ornamental ingenuity in Wasserschlangen is unreached and the plain beauty of ornament could not have been visualized any better.

Water Serpents by Gustav Klimt is sometimes mistakenly termed "Water Snakes"or "Sea Serpents". Water Serpents I & II both feature attractive and highly detailed depictions of women which was the hallmark of this great Austrian artist.

The popularity of both Water Serpents paintings is due to the great detail and colour that he put into both and the flattering and feminine finish to each portrait. Their is a mystical and charming set of imagery within both paintings and the great level of detail means they hold longevity too. Typically for his portrait works, Klimt would produce many high level pencil sketches in preparation for them and these are valuable pieces of art work in their own right in the modern era, with his drawing talents equally respected.

Water Serpents II features the full painting in all it's glory, with a smaller version below that just concentrates on specific details from the art work that some people prefer. The Kiss is a similar work featuring full length portraits within mystical, swirling series of bright objects but differs in that it includes a man and a woman in a lover's hug, whilst the Water Serpents series just includes women to give a pleasingly feminine look that matches the articulate detail that runs throughout both paintings. It is easy to see why so many love to buy Klimt Water Serpent prints!

Water Serpents II is included in detail with a cropped print available, that some people prefer over the full size original version. This version allows a greater coverage of the individual detail in the painting but still includes the main focus of the art work, which is the two beautiful women that intertwine with the elaborate background patterns. Gustav Klimt was an artist who remained consistent throughout his career and this expressive style is seen right across his career ever since growing out of his intial early stages where he was simply finding his feet as an artist. For those who discovered Water Serpents first, there is a great detail of further paintings in his career which they are highly likely to also appreciate as they'll hold clear stylistic similarities within them.

Gustav Klimt had an exceptional successful career with many of his paintings still receiving large exposure within the media every year. There can be no question that his most famous painting of all was The Kiss.

Water Serpents I is shown above and although less respected than the second in the series, it is still one of Klimt's very best, with international fans for both all over the world. Indeed, online foreign language searched related to these series of paintings include Wasserschlangen (German), Serpents d'eau, Sirènes I (French), Serpientes acuáticas (Spanish) and Bisce d'acqua (Italian). Most online users however will use the English name, despite most originally being given German names by the artist when they were first painted.

Adele Bloch Bauer is a further painting by Klimt which follows a similar style to Water Serpents I. You can find out more on Klimt Adele Bloch Bauer here. That painting features a portrait of a popular model that he used on several occasions within his stylish portrait paintings. There are also a series of pencil sketches of Bloch-Bauer as preparation for each of the final paintings.

Klimt returned to the theme of 'sensual women in water' in two works know as Water Serpents I and Water Serpents II. Water Serpents I is not an oil painting, and its pale, unusual colouring is in part dictated by the medium used. It does not differ much from the preliminary drawings that Klimt used for reference, apart from the addition of the gold paint, and the green and gold-leaf thread entangled around the women's bodies. The unambiguously lesbian embrace of his models would perhaps have been unacceptable had it been presented as a straight portrait. However, by renaming the work and giving it an allegorical theme and by adding the fish-like serpent behind the bodies and adorning every surface with gold and pattern, Klimt was able to show the painting to Vienna without fear of censorship.

The basic genres of Klimt's art remained unchanged up to the time of his death - portraits, landscapes, and allegories. In his last period, however, these familiar genres were treated with greater expression of feelings and the picutures became less abstract. Human types were no longer disguised in the context of myth or fairy tale. They appeared before the viewer in unvarnished reality. In a later painting, Women Friends, Klimt portrayed lesbianism much more openly. A naked young girl with parted lips rests her head against her lover, who holds a wrap, partly covering their nudity.

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