Monday, May 19, 2014

Gustav Klimt - The Kiss

Artist: Gustav Klimt
Title: The Kiss
Dimensions: 180 x 180 cm
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1808-1809
References: klimt.com, wikipedia.org,



Gustav Klimt was an Austrian symbolist painter that contained many exampled of eroticism, which had caused him to be criticized for some of his earlier work being comparable to pornography.   The Kiss is one of his most popular works and displays a man and a woman locked in an embrace and sealed together with a passionate kiss. They are wrapped in a gold cloak and the image is in abstract form. This painting is a good example of Klimt’s obsession with eroticism, which was controversial at the time but was still well received. The painting also depicts the apparent Arts and Crafts movement of decorative art.  I choose this portrait for the exhibition because of the purest form of affection that it presents. The intensity of both the protagonists are presented very well with nothing but a mere kiss.

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