The Kiss Klimt painting
Photograph by duwagison Flickr.
This The Kiss Klimt painting patterning has clear ties to Art Nouveau and to the Arts and Crafts movement and also evokes the conflict between two- and three-dimensionality Édouard Manet instrinsic to the work of Degas and other modernists. The obverse depicts Klimt in his studio with two unfinished masterpieces on easels, while the reverse shows The Kiss Klimt painting Der Kuss (The Kiss). .
The rest of the painting dissolves into shimmering, extravagant flat patterning. The couple’s embrace is enveloped by triangular vining and a veil of concentric circles. Similarly juxtaposed couples appear in both Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze and Stoclet Frieze. In The Kiss, Klimt depicted a couple locked The Kiss Klimt painting in an embrace.
Paintings such as The Kiss were visual manifestations of fin-de-siecle spirit because they capture a decadence conveyed by opulent and sensuous images. Some think that Klimt and his beloved companion Emilie Flöge modeled for the masterpiece. The Kiss is a discreet expression of Klimt’s emphasis on eroticism and the liberation therein. The Kiss is deviant from Klimt’s frequent portrayal of women as the lascivious femme fatale. The piece is currently at the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere museum, which is housed in the Belvedere palace, in Vienna, Austria. Gustav Klimt and The Kiss were selected as the main motif for a collectors coin, the 100 euro gold The Painting coin issued on 5 November 2003.
The man is wearing neutral coloured rectangles and a crown of vines; the woman wears brightly coloured tangent circles and flowers in her hair. The Kiss (original Der Kuss) was painted by Gustav Klimt, during his ‘golden period’, and is probably his most famous work.