The Story

Hope (Speranza) is the largest painting I created during my time in Italy. It was inspired by the two eclipses that occurred close together in August and, in particular, by an evening when a friend and I joined a gathering of Italians on a mountaintop outside Florence to watch the first eclipse.

The eclipse felt connected to releasing what no longer serves us and creating space for transformation. That evening, the sky itself seemed to embody this idea. One side was filled with dark storm clouds, while the other remained bright around the eclipse. I heightened this contrast in the painting by adding a rainbow and a flash of lightning, symbols of hope and illumination existing alongside uncertainty and upheaval.

A hybrid sea creature rises through the turbulent water, inspired by the mythological beings I had been painting in my fresco-inspired works. From the chaos at the center, a single flower emerges. Echoing the symbolism of my earlier painting Cosmic Lotus, the flower represents hope, renewal, and the possibility that something beautiful can grow from even the most turbulent circumstances.

Faintly layered into the sky are two jaguar-like felines inspired by an image I discovered in the decorative tiles at San Miniato al Monte, where I went each Sunday to listen to Gregorian chanting. The two felines appear to dance, or perhaps duel, representing opposing forces held together in a delicate balance. Darkness and light, destruction and creation, fear and hope coexist within the painting, not as separate realities, but as essential parts of the same continually unfolding world.

Materials & Framing

This painting was created with archival oil paint on fine linen purchased from Rigacci in Florence. I was especially excited to return to this historic art supply store because it is located right beside the neighborhood where I lived during my first extended stay in Florence, 16 years ago. Using materials sourced there gave the painting another meaningful connection to my history with the city.

The linen is stretched over traditional stretcher bars measuring approximately one inch deep. Its fine surface allows for delicate details, luminous layers of color, and the subtle atmospheric effects that move throughout the painting.

Hope (Speanza)

oil on linen

24 x 36 inches

$6,500 USD

Worldwide shipping is available. For shipping rates please email kristy@kristygordon.com.