Lecture Notes: Gustav Klimt's The Kiss

Overview

• Location: Belvedere, Vienna
• Artist: Gustav Klimt
• Title: The Kiss
• Date: 1908
• Significance: One of Klimt’s most famous works, often seen altered as a rectangle on posters.

Description

• Shape and Size: Almost a perfect square, large painting.
• Use of Gold: Extensive use of gold, likened to religious icons.
  • Influence: Suggests Byzantine tradition and tile work from Ravenna.
  • Technique: Gold circles rise off the canvas, catch light like medieval tooled gold.

Interpretation

• Spiritual Element: Suggests transcendence, with the figures appearing to dissipate into the cosmos representing intense and eternal love.
• Modernization Context: Created during a time of rapid modernization in Vienna, abstracting universal experiences from societal anxieties.

Artistic Comparison and Influence

• Comparison to Klimt's Beethoven Frieze: Similar themes of confronting evil and emerging into fulfillment.
• Comparison to Egon Schiele’s The Embrace:
  • Schiele emphasizes physicality and bodily presence.
  • Klimt uses decorative forms to cloak physicality, suggesting sensuality.

Details and Symbolism

• Figure Patterns: Contrasting patterns for male (linear) and female (curvilinear).
• Facial Focus:
  • Female figure: Full frontal, passive, and introspective.
  • Male figure: Physical power and desire through posture.
  • Both crowned: Male with leaves, female with star-like forms.

Artistic Approach

• Klimt’s Truth: Aestheticized, timeless truth contrasting with Schiele’s momentary truth.

Conclusion

• Overall: The Kiss by Klimt is a blend of sensuality, spirituality, and eternal themes, presented through rich decorative artistry.