Beech Grove I 1902

Gustav Klimt made this painting of a forest of Beech trees sometime around the turn of the century. Look at how he’s built up the image with all these tiny marks! Imagine Klimt there with his brush, layering tiny strokes of colour over and over. The pale trunks of the trees reach upwards, surrounded by a carpet of rusty, golden leaves. He must have really looked, noticed the subtleties, and the way the light flickers through the branches. It’s like he’s captured a moment, a fleeting impression of nature's beauty. The painting isn’t about photographic realism, it’s about feeling, about the sensation of being lost in the woods, you know? Klimt's art nouveau style always reminds me that we artists are all magpies, borrowing from each other, remixing ideas, like some endless game of telephone. Painting’s just one big conversation, right?