The Kiss
The Kiss
Gustav Klimt · 1908
01
Vienna. 1908.
Two lovers. A field of gold.
A perfect square. 180 by 180 centimetres.
02
His robe is rectangles.
Black, white, gold.
Hard edges.
03
Hers is circles and flowers.
Soft against hard.
Gold leaf. Silver. Platinum.
04
They kneel on a bed of flowers.
Gold above. Meadow below.
05
Her eyes are closed.
In 1905 Klimt quit a state commission.
Paid back the fee. Took the paintings home.
In 1908 the state paid 25,000 crowns for this.
The whole square.
Gold, edge to edge.
“Whoever wants to know something about me… ought to look carefully at my pictures and try to see in them what I am and what I want to do.”
May 1945
Those paintings were for Vienna University.
By then they were stored at Schloss Immendorf.
The castle burned as the war ended.
They have not been seen since. Photographs remain.
The Kiss has been the state's since 1908.
Gustav Klimt
Austrian · Symbolism · 1862 to 1918
Sources · 6