The Kiss (Klimt painting)

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The Kiss
Gustav Klimt, 1907-1908
Oil and gold leaf on canvas
180 × 180 cm
Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, Austria

The Kiss (original Der Kuss) was painted by Gustav Klimt, during his ‘golden period’, and is probably his most famous work. It depicts a couple, bound up in various shades of gold and symbols, sharing a kiss against a bronze background.

The dusky featured man dominates the woman, holding her face to bestow the kiss. The woman with a lighter complexion kneels beneath the man, resignedly clutching his neck and hand.
The lovers are situated at the edge of a flowered escarpment. The man is wearing neutral coloured rectangles and a crown of vines; the woman wears brightly coloured tangent circles and flowers in her hair. The twain’s embrace is enveloped by triangular vining and a veil of concentric circles.
Similarly juxtaposed couples appear in both Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze and Stoclet Frieze.

Various interpretations of The Kiss:[citation needed]

  • That the shared 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.
  • The Kiss exemplifies a loss of self, reconciliation and unity that only lovers experience.
  • The couple stimulates different energies contributing to the connection. The man displays knowledge, black and white contrast, and binary information, as his energy towards the woman. The woman supports this by using her femininity, warmth, and decorous flowers as her energy towards the man. Notice how the woman is rooted in the ground, symbolizing her connection as "Mother Nature," which means its only normal that she connects as the image of flowers. Notice how underneath the man pictures of rabbits are visible and are benefiting from Mother Nature's grass. This symbolism of connection between the two parts is the essence of what love means.

Some think{Klimt by Gilles Neret, p. 57} that Klimt and his beloved companion Emilie Flöge modeled for the masterpiece.

The Kiss is a discreet expression of Klimt’s emphasis on eroticism and the liberation therein. The Kiss falls in line with Klimt’s exploration of fulfillment and the redeeming, transformative power of love and art. The Kiss is deviant from Klimt’s frequent portrayal of women as the lascivious femme fatale.

The piece is currently at the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere museum, which is housed in the Belvedere palace, in Vienna, Austria.

The painting coin featuring "The Kiss"
The painting coin featuring "The Kiss"

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[edit] The painting coin

Gustav Klimt and his masterpiece "The Kiss", have left such a legacy behind that himself and this particular painting have been the main motive for many collector coins and medals, the most recent one is the famous 100 euro gold coin The painting issued in November 5, 2003. The obverse depicts Klimt in his studio with two unfinished masterpieces on easels, while the reverse shows "Der Kuss" (The Kiss).

Karmina's pop single "The Kiss"
Karmina's pop single "The Kiss"

[edit] The pop single

While "The Kiss" has become a famous painting whose imagery has been incorporated into a wide variety of art and media, one recent and unusual example is its influence on pop-duo Karmina, whose single "The Kiss" evokes the imagery of Gustav Klimt's masterpiece in its lyrics. The duo also utilized many of Klimt's colors from the painting in designing their album cover for their 2008 release, Backwards Into Beauty.

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