Wünsche (Yearnings) from Ein Handschuh (A Glove). Cyclus von zehn Compositionen radirt. Rad. Opus VI, Plate III. First edition 1881

Max Klinger etched “Wünsche (Yearnings)” as plate three of “Ein Handschuh (A Glove)” around 1881, and within its frame, we find a woman hunched over a small candle, her form barely visible. Above, a flowering tree looms, heavy with blossoms. Consider the candle, a tiny beacon against the vast darkness; it's a motif that flickers through time, from medieval depictions of saints with candles, symbols of divine enlightenment, to modern psychological studies, where a candle represents the fragility of life. Here, it speaks to the woman’s inner world—her vulnerability and suppressed desires—mirroring the single glove in other plates of Klinger's series. The profusion of flowers above, echoing Botticelli’s “Primavera,” carries connotations of fertility and renewal, yet also of transience. It's a dialectic, you see. Throughout art history, the symbol of flowers recurs, suggesting an evolution of the collective subconscious. The composition evokes a potent, almost painful yearning. Klinger masterfully engages viewers, inviting us to delve into our own memories and desires. The glove is lost and found, the flowers bloom and fade.