KULTURA / CULTURE
MAGICAL, GOLDEN ENCHANTMENT Visiting Gustav Klimt If you’re in Vienna, make sure to visit the Belvedere Museum, which has a collection that includes the largest number of works by this celebrated Symbolist painter
BORN IN VIENNA IN 1862, Gustav Klimt created his best works in his home city, and it was there that he died in 1918, just a few months ahead of the demise of Austria-Hun- gary and the collapse of the world as he knew it. He was fortunate enough to have lived in Vienna’s golden age at the end of the century that saw the birth of modernism. The new art carried with it a strong fascination with eroticism, which shocked what was then still a conservative milieu. That’s because it was also the Vienna of Sigmund Freud, bursting at the seams with Victorian morality. However, this new exaltation found in Klimt its greatest poet. No one celebrated women like he did. According to the painter himself, astoundingly beautiful women were “the embod- iment of Vienna at the end of the century”, which was why Klimt ex- clusively painted women after the year 1900. The women of his paint- ings radiate strength and self-con- fidence, prompting critics and art historians to describe Klimt for dec- ades as a “frauenversteher” – a man who understands women. At the heart of his fascinating oeuvre are certainly his portraits of Adele Bloch-Bauer. Her first portrait, better known as ‘Wom- an in Gold’, was exhibited in 1907. Created in oil and gold leaf and in- spired by Byzantine mosaics, it de- picts Adele with bare shoulders, sit- ting on a stylised throne and looking towards the viewer with vulnera- bility and pride. The background is a lavish explosion of sacred orien- tal and erotic symbolism. Art his- torians are in agreement that this portrait is a symphony in gold and a unique triumph of symbols, while it is today considered an art nou- veau masterpiece. Her second por-
trait differs drastically. It was five years later and Klimt created some- thing completely different, with an obvious stylistic evolution due to the powerful colouring. Bloch-Bauer succumbed to meningitis in 1925, at the age of just 43. Her likeness became a symbol of Viennese cul- ture and was even called the Aus- trian Mona Lisa. This all leads us to the upper lev- el of Belvedere Palace, which hous- es the world’s largest collection of Klimt paintings, including, among others, his most celebrated work: the famous Kiss. Painted between 1907 and 1908, it is a classic example of the Vienna Secession style. The artist utilised a large, square canvas to paint a woman that is most likely a depiction of Emilie Flöge, who – despite Klimt’s numerous relation- ships with other women – remained his faithful life companion, muse, friend and lover. She remained by his side until the end of his life, even af- ter his wild and numerous relation- ships led to him becoming a father at least 14 times. Klimt’s The Kiss is one of those paintings that has entered the col- lective memory, having been repro- duced in countless ways on consum- er items, textiles, paper, anything and everything. It isn’t uncommon to drink coffee from a Kiss mug, to shelter from the rain under a Kiss umbrella or to record thoughts and notes in a diary with a cover deco- rated with Klimt’s golden painting. The Kiss has been reproduced innu- merable times and there is no com- mon object that hasn’t been decorat- ed with the contours of this image at least once. Officially inspired by the shim- mering Byzantine mosaics that Klimt had studied in the Italian city
of Ravenna, this painting is enriched with gold leaf that inundates the clothing and contours of the couple depicted, captivating the viewer with its tenderness and unusual setting. The man is bent over the woman, who awaits his kiss with closed eyes. This passionate embrace takes place on a lake, as shown by the reeds and flowers around the woman’s feet. This painting is made so special not by the subject itself, but rather by the golden variegation and mix of square patterns on the male figure and circular ones on the female. The fusion of East and West that radi- ates from this painting, coupled with the golden colouring, makes it es- pecially harmonious and attractive to the observer, who is compelled to hold their gaze. Although the Belvedere has 22 Klimt works, when it comes to a pos- sible price tag for The Kiss, it is be- lieved that – if it were ever to be sold – it would become the most expen- sive painting in history. The Belve- dere bought The Kiss when it was first exhibited 116 years ago, pay- ing 25,000 crowns (equivalent to around 250,000-280,000 U.S. dol- lars today), making it the most ex- pensive painting in the Austria of the time. This masterpiece of ear- ly modern art is a symbol of Vien- nese Jugendstil and the Art Nou- veau movement generally.
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