Girlfriends (Water Serpents I)
Gustav Klimt (1904; last revisions by 1907)
Gustav Klimt’s Girlfriends (Water Serpents I) stages two elongated nudes drifting in a jeweled, underwater field where bodies and ornament fuse into a single, <strong>luminous</strong> surface. Closed eyes, interlaced arms, and hair that streams like <strong>currents</strong> seal the scene in intimate secrecy, while metallic scales, eye-shaped ovals, and a watchful fish charge the water with <strong>erotic</strong> and <strong>mythic</strong> tension <sup>[1]</sup><sup>[2]</sup><sup>[3]</sup>.
