“Art is a line around your thoughts.”
-Gustav Klimt
THE KISS
The Kiss (in German Der Kuss) is an oil-on-canvas painting with added gold leaf, silver and platinum by the Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt. It was painted at some point in 1907 and 1908, during the height of what scholars call his "Golden Period". The painting now hangs in the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere museum in the Belvedere, Vienna, and is considered a masterpiece of Vienna Secession (local variation of Art Nouveau) and Klimt's most popular work after Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer. It is considered by many as a famous work of art.
Gustav Klimt was the founding president of the Vienna Secession.
In 1897, Klimt and a group of twenty other painters, sculptors and architects renounced the conservative Künstlerhaus to form their own artistic group. Klimt was chosen as its president and was active in organizing exhibitions until he left the group in 1905.
Lady with Fan(Dame mit Fächer)
Judith and the Head of Holofernes (also known as Judith I) is an oil painting by Gustav Klimt created in 1901. It depicts the biblical character of Judith holding the severed head of Holofernes. Belvedere, Vienna, Austria
The Virgin
The Maiden (Die Jungfrau) is a painting by the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt painted in year 1913. Currently it's stored in the National Gallery in Prague, Czech Republic.
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer
This painting, which took three years to complete, was commissioned by the wealthy industrialist Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, who made his money in the sugar industry. Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer favored the arts, especially Klimt, and commissioned him to complete another portrait of his wife Adele in 1912. Private Collection, Neue Galerie New York, New York City, US
Judith and the Head of Holofernes
Lady with a Fan (German: Dame mit Fächer) was the final portrait created by Gustav Klimt. Painted in 1917, the uncommissioned piece depicting an unidentified woman was on an easel in his studio when he died in 1918. Like many of Klimt's late works, it incorporates strong Asian influences including many Chinese motifs. Property from a Private Collection
Love, intimacy, and sexuality are common themes found in Gustav Klimt's works. The Stoclet Frieze and the Beethoven Frieze are such examples of Klimt's focus on romantic intimacy. Both works are precursors to The Kiss and feature the recurring motif of an embracing couple. It is thought that Klimt and his companion Emilie Flöge modeled for the work, but there is no evidence or record to prove this. Others suggest the female was the model known as 'Red Hilda'; she bears strong resemblance to the model in his Woman with feather boa, Goldfish and Danaë.
The Collection
