Snarry-A-Thon entry
The reveals have been up at Snarry-A-Thon for a little while, and I'm finally getting around to posting my entry. It seems like the entry went up forever ago, as it was posted on the first day! It was hard not to respond right away to all the wonderful comments I received.

This was one of the best, most relaxed and enjoyable fests I've participated in.

Title: Wormwood and Asphodel
Artist: stellamoon
Media: graphite pencil and Photoshop painting
Fanart: Snape/Harry for the Snarry-A-Thon at snape_potter
Rating:NC-17
Prompt: #126, Famous artworks reinterpreted
Summary: This is my hommage to Klimt's frieze "Ode To Joy"
A/N: Klimt's frieze, "Ode To Joy", was part of an exhibition in honor of Beethoven (that's a fan work, right?). The Beethoven frieze (of which there were multiple panels) interpreted Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with its closing chorus, “Ode to Joy,” and embodied Klimt’s belief that love and art were the keys to life. The frieze was presented in the exhibition with the accompanying quote; "Joy, thou gleaming spark divine. This kiss to the whole world!" It is interesting that Beethoven's symphony, in turn, was written as somewhat of an accompaniment to Schiller's poem, "Ode To Joy", which makes the Ninth Symphony, basically, a fan work, also! So, my Snarry-A-Thon entry is positively steeped in fandom tradition! I hope you enjoy.





Here is the original art by Klimt:



I really liked this art by Klimt and when I sat down to think on how to customize it to make it Snarry, I had to take a look at what Klimt used in his original. The first thing I knew I had to keep as is, was the giant, glowing, phallic golden column rising up from the ground. The gentle curving shapes that are typical of art nouveau; I also kept.

Overall, I knew I wanted to somehow show fire, water, earth, and air elements - as well as the additional element of magic. So, I thought about how Klimt did that. Klimt often used flowers as symbolism - but I don't think they represented that much - particularly in this piece - other than referencing the natural earth, nature's beauty, that sort of thing. So, as I looked at all the elements of the original and how I could change them to make them apply to Snarry, I thought of the bushy trees in the back could be the shrubby wormwood, and the flowers scattered on the ground could be the star-shaped asphodel. I thought that worked well because it's a reference to the first meeting between Snape and Harry (that question he asked Harry in class), and also because of the intense properties of the resulting potion, as well. This also explains the title, of course. Some people seemed to be wondering about that.

Along with the colors, this takes care of the earth elements. Dragon and phoenix were chosen simply to bring in an element of the magical world, where Klimt used what appear to be bowed trees - which were probably intended as a symbol of life and the natural world. Dragon and phoenix are there to stand in not only as that symbol of magic, but also representational of the 2 characters. The dragon and phoenix bring in the elements of fire and air, as well as magic.

In the original Klimt painting, the two figures seem to be standing in a swirling pool of water. I liked that part quite a bit, so I included it in my painting - only making it a bit bigger. And that takes care of the final element of water.

I hope you enjoyed this art as much as I enjoyed creating it.