When does a static variable is really initialized

Question

I have a Java class:

Class A {
  static Object a = new Object();
  Object getObject() {
    return a;
  }
}

In above code. I want to ask when object a is really initialized. I have two answers for my question:

1. When Java program is started. a will automatically initialize, although we will never use it.

2. the very first time we call getObject(). So, I think this will be more optimize.

I don't know which really true behind the scene.

Answer 1

When the JVM loads class A, it executes "static" block of code and initializes static variables as well.