ART APPRECIATION THREAD The Kiss---Gustav Klimt's most famous work

WEB MUSEUM ^ | 19 Aug 2002 | © Nicolas Pioch

[Liz]

Just as Munch can be associated with both Symbolism and Expressionism, so the art of the Austrian painter, Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), is a curious and elegant synthesis of Symbolism and Art Nouveau.

The Austrians responded enthusiastically to the decorative artifice of Art Nouveau, and Klimt is almost artifice incarnate.

He painted large ornamental friezes of allegorical scenes, and produced fashionable portraits, uniting the stylized shapes and unnatural colors of Symbolism with his own essentially harmonious concept of beauty.

The Kiss is a fascinating icon of the loss of self that lovers experience. Only the faces and hands of this couple are visible; all the rest is great swirl of gold, studded with colored rectangles as if to express visually the emotional and physical explosion of erotic love.

THE KISS

1907-08 (100 Kb); 180 x 180 cm (71 x 71 in); Österreichisches Galerie Wien, Vienna
Man leaning over and kissing kneeling woman. All shrouded in symbolically patterned gold. A bed of flowers below them.

[apackof2]

Interesting but I don't care for it

I prefer the landscapes

[iceskater]

I agree with you. This painting makes me uncomfortable - to me it seems like she is being smothered. Perhaps I'm projecting here.....

This does not seem very Art Nouveau-ish to me either.
His landscapes are a bit more in the Art Nouveau mold to me than "The Kiss".

[ken5050]

That's from his "Alma" series....she 's his wife...check out the one with sunflowers..it's stunning..I'm looking at it as as I type..

[Sloth]

[MinuteGal]

I think women like "The Kiss" because, by golly, that's a REAL man strongly enveloping her and planting a good solid smackeroo on her face.....and she looks to me like she LOVES it.

I'd rather have him kiss me than, say, Paul Begala....or ((((shiver))) liver lips AlGore.

Leni

[Mark in the Old South]

=^D

[Republicanprofessor]

I never understood the appeal of this painting especially from women. The lady in the painting does not look like she is enjoying it at all. It is as if the man is overwhelming and blotting her out of existence but women seen to like it. What does that say?

I've always felt that The Kiss (posted by Liz earlier) creates that sinking feeling of falling in love. The lady is in love and sinking down in that way. I've never thought of it in terms of losing one's identity, but I can see that now. (Although a wise friend of mine said once that marriage--and love--is not a 50/50 proposition, but 100/100 effort. You have to make 100% effort to make that other person become the best he or she can be.)

Here's Klimt's Life and Death. I've always liked the contrast of right vs. left sides. (That's not political rights and lefts, folks.)

[Mark in the Old South]

This is of course pre-AIDS. Considering the obvious effects of promiscuous sex they should rename the painting "two faces of death"

[muir_redwoods]

I like it. It is hard to describe in words, just like a real kiss

[Liz]

One of these?

This landscape is nice.

[Republicanprofessor]

This is of course pre-AIDS. Considering the obvious effects of promiscuous sex they should rename the painting "two faces of death."

They are not having sex on the right. It's a symbolic grouping everyone: old and young, male and female. Whom will Death get next? And they are all asleep, and oblivious.

[iceskater]

Did you have to go there???? Eeeewwwwww.....

[iceskater]

That's another comparison I hadn't considered.

[iceskater]

But she's not looking at him. She's turned her face so he's kissing her cheek and not on the lips. To me that connotes someone who is being smothered/overwhelmed.

To me, if she really was in love - the weak-in-the-knees, butterlies inside - kind of love, she'd be gazing at him - not turning her face from him.

[Mark in the Old South]

But your a girl? Like there is a chance Paul Begala would kiss you, now I would probably have to fight him off with a stick.
.
.
.
.
.
Make that AK-47, you can never be too careful.

[MinuteGal]

"Life and Death" to me portrays the serene faces of deceased folks of all ages, displaying love and peace as they nestle in a protective tree.

Lurking behind them is Death (or the Devil ?) waiting to snatch them to his realm.

But they are protected by a shield of Crucifixes keeping the creature from stealing them.

This painting is a beautifully-executed and very emotional piece of art if one studies it. Note the almost hidden faces of some young girls around the periphery of the nestling group.

Leni

[dfwgator]

I'm shocked it took 26 posts before someone posted that quote.

[Mark in the Old South]

I don't know about that. I suspect there is more to the suggestion in the grouping than you suggest. Even the Child may represent the consequences of sex. Also notice the clothing of death. All the crosses? Do they represent tombstones or is he associating death with Christianity.

I know nothing about the artist's personal life but I am not guessing a pious life.

[Liz]

The Kiss is one of those paintings in which observers are expected to lose themselves, to give themselves over to the mood the artist has deftly created with his brush strokes, a mood which commands the canvas. The work is intended to transfix viewers; extravagant embellishments serve to emphasize the mood.

[tet68]

It's a symbolic grouping everyone: old and young, male and female. Whom will Death get next?

Et in Arcadia ego.

Even in paradise, I death hold sway.