The Kiss

The Kiss. Gustav Klimt. 1907–1908 C.E. Oil and gold leaf on canvas.
  • Most famous Klimt
  • So much gold, hard to think of it as a non religious; suggested a sense of transcendence
  • Tile, patterning; halo; linear patterns on male form contrast with those of the woman’s whose are curvilinear
  • Figures seem lost in the intensity/eternity of this kiss; abstraction of a universal experience; fulfillment and perfection
  • Bodies not present, cloaked; woman is leaning, represents her passivity, receiving that kiss; deep interior feeling, her eyes closed; her fingers are delicately touching his
  • Sense of male’s physical power; strength of his neck, intensity of his desire; aestheticized 
  • Little of human form; richly designed patterning; all consuming love; passion; gold leaf reminiscent of Byzantine mosaics 
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