Realism1908
The Kiss
Gustav Klimt
Curator's Eye
"A couple entwined on a flowery precipice, clad in gold robes with geometric patterns symbolizing male and female principles, under a celestial rain of gold."
The pinnacle of Klimt's "Golden Phase," this monumental work merges eroticism, spirituality, and Byzantine ornamentation to elevate carnal love into a timeless sacred icon.
Analysis
Created between 1907 and 1908, "The Kiss" emerged during a period of crisis and renewal for Gustav Klimt, following the public scandal of his University Faculty paintings. The work represents the zenith of the Vienna Secession, a movement that sought to break the shackles of academicism to create a "Total Art" (Gesamtkunstwerk). Klimt's style here is a masterful synthesis of fin-de-siècle symbolism and pure ornamentation. The golden background, inspired by the Ravenna mosaics the artist visited in 1903, de-historicizes the scene, placing the lovers in a sacred non-place, a golden eternity far from the torments of modern Vienna.
On a mythological and historical level, the painting does not recount a specific myth but creates its own mythology of absolute union. It is often seen as a reinterpretation of the story of Apollo and Daphne, but where Daphne transforms into a laurel tree to escape the god, here the metamorphosis is fusional: the lovers merge into a protective golden shell. The explanation of the story lies in the reconciliation of opposites. The man, with dark rectangular shapes, represents strength, structure, and the phallic principle; the woman, with circular and floral shapes, represents fluidity, intuition, and fertility. They are no longer two individuals but a single cosmogonic entity.
Klimt's technique is of rare complexity, blending oil painting with layers of gold and silver leaf. The artist uses impasto to give relief to the ornamental patterns, creating a texture that physically reacts to light. This approach transforms the surface of the canvas into a precious, almost liturgical object. The contrast between the ethereal realism of the faces and hands and the geometric abstraction of the clothing creates a visual tension that captivates the viewer. Klimt treats the flesh with a delicacy that contrasts sharply with the metallic rigidity of the ornaments.
Psychologically, the work explores total surrender and vulnerability within the embrace. The woman's position, with closed eyes and a flexed body, suggests a state of ecstasy or trance, while the man, whose face is hidden from us, embodies a protective but almost invasive devotion. The flowery precipice on which they stand serves as a reminder that love is a precarious state, an island of beauty suspended above the abyss of existence. It is a psychology of fusion where the ego fades in favor of a transcendent experience, an aesthetic response to the anxiety of human finitude.
One of the painting's best-kept secrets is the identity of the models. While tradition identifies them as Klimt himself and his lifelong companion Emilie Flöge, no formal proof exists. Recent studies suggest the woman could be "Red Hilda," one of the artist's favorite models at the time. Another mystery lies in the patterns: microscopic analyses have revealed that Klimt used different purities of gold to create variations in reflection, ranging from lemon yellow to copper, thus simulating spatial depth within the very two-dimensionality of the gold.
Scientifically, the restoration of the work highlighted the use of platinum in certain areas to cool the brilliance of the gold, an unheard-of luxury even for Klimt. Furthermore, sketches beneath the gold layers reveal that the tilt of the woman's head was modified several times to achieve that precise angle of abandonment. A lesser-known secret is the influence of Japanese art (Japonisme) in the verticality of the composition and the absence of traditional perspective, a bold choice that positions Klimt as a precursor to modern abstraction.
The work was purchased by the Austrian government even before it was finished, for the then-colossal sum of 25,000 crowns, saving Klimt from financial isolation after his previous failures. This painting became, despite itself, an Austrian "Mona Lisa." However, recent X-rays have shown that Klimt had initially planned much more explicit patterns on the clothing, which he eventually covered with the current geometric shapes to give the work its universal and sacred dimension. The kiss is thus as much an act of concealment as of revelation.
Finally, the chemical analysis of the binders revealed that Klimt used an unusual proportion of fatty oils and resins, which explains why his paintings retain this matte glow despite the centuries. A historical anecdote has it that Diderot's spiritual descendants in art criticism remained for hours before this canvas, claiming Klimt was the only painter capable of rendering "the air we breathe" in a dream state. The mystery remains regarding the exact identity of the models, though they are transformed here into timeless archetypes of the human condition.
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