The Kiss (Klimt painting)
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 |
| The Kiss |
| Gustav Klimt, 1907-1908 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 180 × 180 cm |
| Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna |
The Kiss (original Der Kuss) was painted by Gustav Klimt, and is probably his most famous work. It depicts a couple shrouded in gold and symbols sharing a kiss against a bland background.
The man is standing, bending over to kiss the woman who is kneeling on a patch of flowers and seems to be accepting the kiss, rather than actively participating. The portion of gold covering the man is covered with mostly rectangular, black and white shapes, while the woman's portion seems to be dotted with bunches of flowers.
Various interpretations of The Kiss:
- That the common gold shrouding, and indeterminate background evokes the timelessness, and union of selves that a kiss can engender.
- That it represents how bright, beautiful, and golden everything is when you first kiss someone.
- That the man is lost in the kiss (faceless and unidentifiable) while the woman is turning her head away and is aloof from the kiss.
- That the female is succumbing to the male and experiencing a moment of sexual ecstasy.
Some think that Klimt and his beloved partner Emilie Flöge modelled for the masterpiece.
This painting is somewhat out of the norm for Klimt as many of his paintings were of powerful, striking women such as Pallas Athene, 1898.
