Shop art print and framed art Head of a woman by Gustav Klimt

Hope II or Espoir II (in German, Die Hoffnung II) is a painting by the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, produced in 1907-08. It was Klimt's second work to focus on a pregnant woman, both depicting Herma, one of his favourite models. It was titled Vision by Klimt, but became famous as Espoir II after the earlier work Espoir, which is now called Espoir I. Espoir II was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1978. Klimt painted Herma heavily pregnant in Espoir I in 1903, in which she was depicted naked. In Espoir II, she wears a long dress or coat decorated with geometric shapes. She has long brown hair and closed eyes, bowing her head towards her bare breasts and expanding abdomen. An incongruous human skull appears attached to the front of her clothes - perhaps a sign of the dangers of work, or perhaps a memento mori (in Espoir I, she is also accompanied by a skull and several figures of death). At the foot of the painting, three women also bend their heads forward, as if in prayer or perhaps mourning. The canvas measures 110 cm by 110 cm. The women occupy the entire central third of the painting, with a darker gold-flecked background on either side. The women's garments, decorated with gold leaf like a Byzantine work and richly coloured and patterned, but flat like an Orthodox icon, contrast with the delicately painted and profiled human faces and bare flesh, as well as the darker tones of the background. Espoir II was exhibited at the first Kunstschau in Vienna [...]

 

This artwork is a painting from the modern period. It belongs to the art nouveau style.

 

« Head of a woman » is kept at Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz, Austria.

 

Find the full description of Head of a woman by Gustav Klimt on Wikipedia.