The Kiss
This painting is really well known by Gustav Klimt. I hope that I can share some light about this painting for you! In the meantime, enjoy!
Gustav Klimt. “The Kiss,” was created in 1907. This painting is an unusually large square format adding up to 5’ 10” x 5’ 10” in size. It is oil on canvas from his Gold Paintings series. This was done with real gold leaf and gold paint on canvas. The artist Gustav Klimt was born in Vienna, Austria, and is considered to be apart of Expressionism. Expressionism is also classified stylistically as Art Nouveau (in France, The New Art) and Jugendstil (in German, the Young/Youthful/New Style). Surface decoration shows Klimt’s interest in medieval cloisonne style, Byzantine mosaics, and excavations of the Mycenean tombs in Tyre, mainland Greece. The two forms are joined together. We see them kneeling together on a meadow of flowers, in a non-descriptive space of dark-gold space. So, it really takes them into a timeless place and they are completely engaged with each other. This piece is most often read, as a portrait of Gustav Klimt and his favorite lover, Emilie Flöge. Emilie Flöge was a dress designer, in Vienna, and she designed a lot of the dresses Klimt’s clients wore. The covering around the two people, can be a cloak or cape the rectangular bars representing the masculine and the lover wears a dress of floral print. On the right we see a disk pattern that appears to be the interior of the cape that the man is holding open. The round forms representing the feminine. It’s very abstract, but he’s left the faces and hands naturalistic. The juxtaposition of naturalism and abstraction gives this work it’s power. Klimt was also known for his portraiture. Some sources of information for the style of Klimt: Byzantine mosaic art from the church of San Vitale, of Empress Theodora, in Ravenna, Italy circa 525. Byzantine mosaics are done with small pieces of stone or pieces of glass with gold leaf, and they are set in plaster so they have physical dimensionality. The look is not realistic with this medium, and that is what was intriguing to Klimt.
I really enjoyed discussing The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. I hope you enjoyed reading about him as well! Next week I’m gonna share The Scream! I hope you enjoy the rest of your week! Until next Sunday!
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