KLIMT, Gustav

Klimt’s late works reveal a new emphasis on compositional intricacy and elaborate structuring devices which also characterizes his last allegorical paintings, including Leda (1917; destroyed), Adam and Eve (c. 1917 , Belvedere, Vienna) and The Bride (1917-18; Belevedere, Vienna).

This scene is on the tympanum in the state staircase on the Volksgartan side.

The expanded segmental arch was filled by Gustav Klimt with a comparatively condensed composition centring on a temple staircase, which is seen in steep perspective from below. As is conveyed to us by its topmost coping, which is only just visible, the temple is imagined as a triptych-like structure along the lines of the Pergamon Altar. In the middle, there is the archaic head of the bearded god in gilt bronze; beside it, a small, grey figurine of a kouros presumably carved from stone. Flowers and ivy tendrils cascade down on either side of them.

This canvas is one of Klimt’s famous Attersee paintings depicting Kammer Castle and its surroundings. It shows the avenue leading to the castle.

Discouraged by the storm of public protest which greeted his paintings for the Aula of Vienna University, Klimt laid aside work on this increasingly unrewarding commission to devote himself to his only true fresco, his Beethoven Frieze (1902; Secession Building, Vienna; restored 1985). Painted for the 14th Secession exhibition (1902), the frieze was intended as part of the group’s homage to the Leipzig artist Max Klinger, whose polychrome sculpture, the Beethoven Monument (Museum der Bildenden K�nste, Leipzig), formed the centrepiece of the show.

The centre wall (The Hostile Powers, the Titan Typhoeus, the Three Gorgons) was conceived as a pictorial paraphrase of the final movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and depicted the struggle for happiness undertaken by a knight in armour who, vanquishing the ‘hostile powers’ (the giant Typhon, the three Gorgons, disease, insanity and death), leads ‘weak humanity’ into the realm of the arts.

The left longitudinal wall shows female figures gliding along horizontally. This part of the frieze is referred to in the Beethoven exhibition catalogue as “Die Sehnsucht nach dem Gl�ck” (The Longing for Happiness). An upright nude woman and a similarly nude kneeling couple are the first figures that the floating figures meet. According to the exhibition catalogue, these three figures symbolize “Die Leiden der schwachen Menschheit” (The Suffering of Weak Mankind). The “Suffering of Weak Mankind” group turns pleadingly towards a knight, the “Wohlger�steten Starken” (Knight in Shining Armor), who stands before them. Behind the golden knight appear two allegorical female characters, who are referred to in the catalogue as “Ehrgeiz” (Ambition)” and “Mitleid” (Compassion).

On the right longitudinal wall, the “Sehns�chte und W�nsche der Menschheit” (Longings and Desires of Mankind) return as a horizontal floating procession and move on until they are stopped by the lonely figure of “Poetry”. On the final section of this wall, a vertical group of crouching women, called “Die K�nste” (The Arts), reach from floor to ceiling like a living pillar. It leads to the “Chor der Paradiesesengel” (Choir of Angels from Paradise), which corresponds to Beethoven’s closing chorus of Schiller’s “Ode an die Freude” (Ode to Joy). In the exhibition catalogue, Klimt’s female choir is characterized as follows: “The arts lead us into the ideal kingdom, which is the only place we can find pure joy, pure happiness, and pure love. ‘Joy, thy purest spark divine, this kiss to all the world’.” His pictorial representation of the “kiss to all the world” manifests itself in the form of an embracing naked couple, which also signals the climax and finale of the frieze.

The Beethoven Frieze is on permanent display in the Vienna Secession Building in a specially built, climate-controlled basement room. Klimt’s working drawings, which specify the use of enamel, gold inlay and coloured glass, are in the �sterreichisches Museum f�r Angewandte Kunst, Vienna.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 7 minutes):

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor op. 67 (1st mvt)

Discouraged by the storm of public protest which greeted his paintings for the Aula of Vienna University, Klimt laid aside work on this increasingly unrewarding commission to devote himself to his only true fresco, his Beethoven Frieze (1902; Secession Building, Vienna; restored 1985). Painted for the 14th Secession exhibition (1902), the frieze was intended as part of the group’s homage to the Leipzig artist Max Klinger, whose polychrome sculpture, the Beethoven Monument (Museum der Bildenden K�nste, Leipzig), formed the centrepiece of the show.

The centre wall (The Hostile Powers, the Titan Typhoeus, the Three Gorgons) was conceived as a pictorial paraphrase of the final movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and depicted the struggle for happiness undertaken by a knight in armour who, vanquishing the ‘hostile powers’ (the giant Typhon, the three Gorgons, disease, insanity and death), leads ‘weak humanity’ into the realm of the arts.

The left longitudinal wall shows female figures gliding along horizontally. This part of the frieze is referred to in the Beethoven exhibition catalogue as “Die Sehnsucht nach dem Gl�ck” (The Longing for Happiness). An upright nude woman and a similarly nude kneeling couple are the first figures that the floating figures meet. According to the exhibition catalogue, these three figures symbolize “Die Leiden der schwachen Menschheit” (The Suffering of Weak Mankind). The “Suffering of Weak Mankind” group turns pleadingly towards a knight, the “Wohlger�steten Starken” (Knight in Shining Armor), who stands before them. Behind the golden knight appear two allegorical female characters, who are referred to in the catalogue as “Ehrgeiz” (Ambition)” and “Mitleid” (Compassion).

On the right longitudinal wall, the “Sehns�chte und W�nsche der Menschheit” (Longings and Desires of Mankind) return as a horizontal floating procession and move on until they are stopped by the lonely figure of “Poetry”. On the final section of this wall, a vertical group of crouching women, called “Die K�nste” (The Arts), reach from floor to ceiling like a living pillar. It leads to the “Chor der Paradiesesengel” (Choir of Angels from Paradise), which corresponds to Beethoven’s closing chorus of Schiller’s “Ode an die Freude” (Ode to Joy). In the exhibition catalogue, Klimt’s female choir is characterized as follows: “The arts lead us into the ideal kingdom, which is the only place we can find pure joy, pure happiness, and pure love. ‘Joy, thy purest spark divine, this kiss to all the world’.” His pictorial representation of the “kiss to all the world” manifests itself in the form of an embracing naked couple, which also signals the climax and finale of the frieze.

The Beethoven Frieze is on permanent display in the Vienna Secession Building in a specially built, climate-controlled basement room. Klimt’s working drawings, which specify the use of enamel, gold inlay and coloured glass, are in the �sterreichisches Museum f�r Angewandte Kunst, Vienna.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 7 minutes):

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor op. 67 (1st mvt)

The centre wall was conceived as a pictorial paraphrase of the final movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and depicted the struggle for happiness undertaken by a knight in armour who, vanquishing the ‘hostile powers’, leads ‘weak humanity’ into the realm of the arts.

The painting represents the hostile forces: Typhoeus, the giant, against whom even gods fought in vain, and his daughters, the three Gorgons. The longings and wishes of mankind fly over their heads. In the centre of the group lurks Typhoeus, a giant monkey-like monster, which according to mythology, is the offspring of the earth goddess, Gaia, and the god of the underworld, Tartaros. To his left side are his daughters, the three Gorgons: “sickness, madness, and death.” On his right side, Typhoeus’s other daughters appear: “lust, unchastity and intemperance.” Above the Gorgons, the skeletal female figure of death lurks in unmatched dramatism.

Klimt’s contemporaries were particularly worked up about the three Gorgons, with their total nudity and lasciviousness and vehemently protested against them.

Away from the crowded figures, in front of the ugly snake body and the mighty wings of the monster, crouches the “Nagender Kummer” (Gnawing Grief), a meagre female figure whose expressiveness is particularly striking.

The detailrepresents the hostile forces: Typhoeus, the giant, against whom even gods fought in vain, and his daughters, the three Gorgons. The longings and wishes of mankind fly over their heads. In the centre of the group lurks Typhoeus, a giant monkey-like monster, which according to mythology, is the offspring of the earth goddess, Gaia, and the god of the underworld, Tartaros. To his left side are his daughters, the three Gorgons: “sickness, madness, and death.” On his right side, Typhoeus’s other daughters appear: “lust, unchastity and intemperance.” Above the Gorgons, the skeletal female figure of death lurks in unmatched dramatism.

Away from the crowded figures, in front of the ugly snake body and the mighty wings of the monster, crouches the “Nagender Kummer” (Gnawing Grief), a meagre female figure whose expressiveness is particularly striking.

The frieze begins on the left wall showing female figures gliding along horizontally, referred to in the Beethoven exhibition catalogue as “Die Sehnsucht nach dem Gl�ck” (The Longing for Happiness).

The outstretched arms of the female figures float as if in water along the top edge of the frieze, while the areas below remain entirely empty.

The first group of figures that the floating figures meet are an upright nude woman and a similarly nude kneeling couple. According to the exhibition catalogue, these three figures symbolize “Die Leiden der schwachen Menschheit” (The Suffering of Weak Mankind). This group turns pleadingly towards a knight, the “Wohlger�steten Starken” (Knight in Shining Armour), who stands before them. He is shown wearing medieval armour and carrying a mighty sword.

Behind the golden knight appear two allegorical female characters, who are referred to in the catalogue as “Ehrgeiz” (Ambition)” and “Mitleid” (Compassion). They are meant to act as “inner driving forces” to motivate the knight to “take up the struggle for happiness” in the name of humanity.

The knight’s challenging gaze focuses on the subsequent scene, which stretches across the entire centre wall where the “hostile forces” are gathered.

Behind the golden knight appear two allegorical female characters, who are referred to in the catalogue as “Ehrgeiz” (Ambition)” and “Mitleid” (Compassion). They are meant to act as “inner driving forces” to motivate the knight to “take up the struggle for happiness” in the name of humanity.

The knight’s challenging gaze focuses on the subsequent scene, which stretches across the entire centre wall where the “hostile forces” are gathered.

The “Sehns�chte und W�nsche der Menschheit” (Longings and Desires of Mankind) return on the connecting right wall as a horizontal floating procession and move on until they are stopped by the lonely figure of “Poetry.

Here “the longing for happiness finds its end in poetry.” Klimt presents the figure of Poetry in a manner inspired by ancient examples. Klimt also draws on the repertoires of ancient, Egyptian, and archaic cultures in many other of the frieze’s motifs.

A vertical group of crouching women, called “Die K�nste” (The Arts), reach from floor to ceiling like a living pillar, leading to the “Chor der Paradiesesengel” (Choir of Angels from Paradise).

The Choir of Angels from Paradise essentially corresponds to Beethoven’s closing chorus of Schiller’s “Ode an die Freude” (Ode to Joy). With raised hands and closed eyes, the floating female figures sing the song of joy. In the exhibition catalogue, Klimt’s female choir is characterized as follows: “The arts lead us into the ideal kingdom, which is the only place we can find pure joy, pure happiness, and pure love. ‘Joy, thy purest spark divine, this kiss to all the world’.”

His pictorial representation of the “kiss to all the world” manifests itself in the form of an embracing naked couple, which also signals the climax and finale of the frieze.

Klimt’s symbolic union corresponds to Schiller’s verse “Joy, thy purest spark divine. This kiss to all the world!” as set to music by Beethoven in the fourth movement of the Ninth Symphony.

The “Sehns�chte und W�nsche der Menschheit” (Longings and Desires of Mankind) return on the connecting right wall as a horizontal floating procession and move on until they are stopped by the lonely figure of “Poetry.

Here “the longing for happiness finds its end in poetry.” Klimt presents the figure of Poetry in a manner inspired by ancient examples. Klimt also draws on the repertoires of ancient, Egyptian, and archaic cultures in many other of the frieze’s motifs.

A vertical group of crouching women, called “Die K�nste” (The Arts), reach from floor to ceiling like a living pillar, leading to the “Chor der Paradiesesengel” (Choir of Angels from Paradise).

The Choir of Angels from Paradise essentially corresponds to Beethoven’s closing chorus of Schiller’s “Ode an die Freude” (Ode to Joy). With raised hands and closed eyes, the floating female figures sing the song of joy. In the exhibition catalogue, Klimt’s female choir is characterized as follows: “The arts lead us into the ideal kingdom, which is the only place we can find pure joy, pure happiness, and pure love. ‘Joy, thy purest spark divine, this kiss to all the world’.”

His pictorial representation of the “kiss to all the world” manifests itself in the form of an embracing naked couple, which also signals the climax and finale of the frieze.

Klimt’s symbolic union corresponds to Schiller’s verse “Joy, thy purest spark divine. This kiss to all the world!” as set to music by Beethoven in the fourth movement of the Ninth Symphony.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 7 minutes):

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor op. 67 (1st mvt)

Here “the longing for happiness finds its end in poetry.” Klimt presents the figure of Poetry in a manner inspired by ancient examples. Klimt also draws on the repertoires of ancient, Egyptian, and archaic cultures in many other of the frieze’s motifs.

Altogether there are ten autonomous paintings, one in each of the tympana that adorn the state staircases and five in each of the two wings. While the cycle of paintings in the right staircase represents the evolution of the theatre and three classical playwrights, the left-hand side focuses on the themes of music, dance, medieval mystery plays and the extempore stage. All the scenes depict actors together with their audiences. In keeping with the spirit of the times, the artists strove for historical accuracy, which manifests itself in such details as clothing, etc.

The cycle in the left-hand staircase (on the Landtmann side) consists of the “Altar of Apollo”, “Ancient Ex-Tempore Actor” (Franz Matsch), “The Theatre at Taormina” (Gustav Klimt), “Medieval Mystery Play” (Franz Matsch) and “Clown on a Fairground Stage” (Ernst Klimt).

Altogether there are ten autonomous paintings, one in each of the tympana that adorn the state staircases and five in each of the two wings. While the cycle of paintings in the right staircase represents the evolution of the theatre and three classical playwrights, the left-hand side focuses on the themes of music, dance, medieval mystery plays and the extempore stage. All the scenes depict actors together with their audiences. In keeping with the spirit of the times, the artists strove for historical accuracy, which manifests itself in such details as clothing, etc.

In the staircase on the right (on the Volksgarten side), starting from the entrance and with the painting in the tympanum, there is the “Altar of Dionysos”, “Thespis’ Cart” (both by Gustav Klimt), “Ancient Theatre Scene” (Franz Matsch), “Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre” (Gustav Klimt), and “Scene from Moli�re” (Ernst Klimt).

As one of Gustav Klimt’s main works, Death and Life is regarded as one of his greatest allegories, in which he used a bold composition to address the cycle of human life. His first sketches on paper were made as early as 1908 and were brought to oil in 1910. In its first presentation at the 1911 International Art Exhibition in Rome, Klimt received the gold medal. For unknown reasons, he decided to fundamentally revision the work in 1915.

Klimt was able to depict the jarring entanglement of life and death through the formal and motivic contrast of a stream of naked human bodies - mother and child, an old woman, a loving couple - surrounded by colourful ornaments and flowers on the right, and the solitary, darkly dressed figure of death on the left. What originally was supposed to have been a gold background appears in the final version as grey, with death appearing almost vigorous, wrapped in a blue ornamental coat and raising a small red club, while life glows with its bright colours, figures, and ornamentation.

It is noticeable that after The Kiss and Death and Life, Klimt embarked on no other major allegorical or narrative paintings for nearly a decade.

This lithograph is the poster for the first Secession Exhibition held in 1898 in Vienna.

Accusations of pornography were made against Klimt from the earliest days of the Secession. His poster for the society’s first exhibition fell foul of the Viennese censor, who demanded that a tree be strategically placed in front of what was originally a nude figure of Theseus fighting the Minotaur.

This lithograph is the poster for the first Secession Exhibition held in 1898 in Vienna.

Klimt’s poster demonstrates that the introduction of the empty plane was the concern not only of architects and that around the turn of the century, everything had its “causative agent”.Sullivan and his comrades-in-arts - later Adolf Loos - were propagating the simple, smooth surface and were preparing the way for functionalism. In this poster, the empty plane also seems to be a sort of wall, as suggested by the cornice at the top. Contradictory elements are combined into a whole; in the tension which infuses the contrast between the empty plane and the figures, there lies an incredible modernity.

Accusations of pornography were made against Klimt from the earliest days of the Secession. His poster for the society’s first exhibition fell foul of the Viennese censor, who demanded that a tree be strategically placed in front of what was originally a nude figure of Theseus fighting the Minotaur.

Gustav Klimt was a leading figure in the Vienna Secession. This bold image violated contemporary standards of propriety, forcing its withdrawal from his first Secession retrospective. Klimt juxtaposed the promise of new life with the destructive forces of death. Despite the monstrosities around her, the subject remains unperturbed, confident of the renewal within.

Preliminary sketches for this painting depict a couple within a landscape reflecting upon their happiness; Klimt’s changes may have been a reaction to the death of his infant son in 1902.

A pregnant woman bows her head and closes her eyes as if praying for the safety of her child. Peeping out from behind her stomach is a death’s head, a looming sign of the danger she faces. At her feet, three women with lowered heads raise their hands, presumably also in prayer - although their solemnity might also imply mourning as if they foresaw the child’s fate. Why, then, the painting’s title? Klimt himself called this work Vision, although he had titled an earlier related painting of a pregnant woman Hope. By association with the earlier work, this one has become known as Hope, II.

Klimt was among the many European artists of his time who were inspired by cultural traditions from outside their own milieu. He lived in Vienna, a crossroads of East and West, and he drew on sources such as Byzantine art, Mycenaean metalwork, Persian rugs and miniatures, the mosaics of the Ravenna churches, and Japanese screens. In this painting, the woman’s gold-patterned robe - drawn flat as clothing is in Russian icons, although her flesh is rounded and dimensional - has an extraordinary decorative beauty. Here birth, death, and the sensuality of the living exist side by side, suspended in equilibrium.

Klimt interprets the biblical Judith as an active female figure. Her eyes are half-closed, her mouth is slightly open. Almost tenderly, she puts her hand on Holofernes’s severed head as if to push him out of the picture. A translucent veil and golden ornaments cover her right breast. A wide band adorned with precious stones that seem to merge into the golden background surrounds your neck. The black hair makes the gold shine more strongly around the femme fatale.

The precious frame was designed by Klimt and executed by his brother Georg, a goldsmith.

In this painting, Klimt creates an “ideal plane” which asserts itself in opposition to the modelling of the body. In his works, gold and silver grounds stand alongside zones of oil painting. To a certain extent, Klimt here anticipates the collage employed, for example, by Antoni Gaudi in his architecture. The subtle, “textile” quality which Klimt so magically lends the pictorial plane has never been equalled.

Klimt’s later works are dominated by portraiture and landscapes, two themes that had played an important role in his earlier work.

For most of his life, Klimt derived a comfortable income from portraiture. The majority of his sitters were the wives and sisters of the Viennese, often Jewish, haute bourgeoisie. He twice portrayed Adele Bloch-Bauer (1907 and 1912, Neue Galerie, New York and Belvedere, Vienna). The first version marks the height of his gold-encrusted manner of painting, of which The Kiss is the other outstanding example.

The first version originally belonged to the Bloch-Bauer couple; between 1933 and 1941, it was nationalized by the Austrian State. In 2006, the portrait was restituted to the family and later transferred to Neue Galerie in New York.

This painting is one of two formal portraits that Gustav Klimt made of Adele Bloch-Bauer, an important patron of the artist.

Adele Bloch-Bauer was the wife of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, a wealthy industrialist in Vienna, where Klimt lived and worked. Completed in 1912, the composition emphasizes Bloch-Bauer’s social station within Vienna’s cultural elite. Her towering figure, in opulent dress, is set against a jewel-toned backdrop of nearly abstract patterned blocks that suggest a richly decorated domestic interior.

In 1938, the Nazis took possession of this portrait along with other works of art in the Bloch-Bauer family’s collection (including Adele Bloch-Bauer I, now in the collection of the Neue Galerie, New York). In 2006, after years of legal negotiations, the works were returned to the Bloch-Bauer heirs and subsequently sold to other collections.

For most of his life, Klimt derived a comfortable income from portraiture. The majority of his sitters were the wives and sisters of the Viennese, often Jewish, haute bourgeoisie. His portrait of Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein, sister of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, recalls Whistler’s full-length portraits.

In this sensitive portrait, a young woman, her face haloed by a cloud of hair, reclines on a chaise lounge and gazes languidly at the viewer. In contrast to the high degree of finish in his rendering of the head, Klimt treated the sitter’s clothing and the back of the chair in a looser, more summary manner, highlighting the palpable emotional connection between sitter and artist.

The young woman bears a noticeable resemblance to Sonja Knips, a Viennese socialite whose portrait Klimt painted during the same period. Both the painting and this drawing mark a major turning point in the evolution of Klimt’s style. In their soft-focus handling, dreamlike atmosphere and pervasive eroticism, they reveal the influence of Symbolism, a key element in the art of the Vienna Secession, the avant-garde movement in which Klimt played a central role.

The erotic represented one of Klimt’s most important sources of inspiration. In his later paintings, the sexual subject matter is often concealed beneath a gossamer web of ornament, but in his drawings, the explicitly erotic is constantly evident. Seldom can the themes of sexual coupling and female masturbation have been more frequently or more exquisitely portrayed. Contemporary critics, as well as later commentators, have observed that explicitly sexual subjects incited Klimt to produce some of his finest drawings.

His depictions of the femme fatale and his drawings treating the theme of female sexuality have assured him a place in the history of erotic art.

Klimt was a prolific draughtsman, producing many works of great fluency. Several thousand surviving drawings reveal him as one of the outstanding draughtsmen of his time, his extreme refinement of line contrasting on occasion with great nervous intensity. His preferred media were pencil and black chalk and, less frequently, pen and ink, crayon or coloured chalks.

The vast majority of his drawings depict the human figure. He once remarked that his main interest in life was ‘other people, above all females’.

This scene is on the ceiling in the state staircase on the Volksgarten side.

The cycle of paintings in the staircase on the Volksgarten side represents the evolution of the theatre from antiquity to the golden age of the theatre in Elizabethan England. As spectators in Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, we witness the scene in the Capulets’ tomb in which a suicidal Romeo has collapsed beside Juliet, whom he believes to be dead.

This scene is on the ceiling in the state staircase on the Volksgarten side.

The cycle of paintings in the staircase on the Volksgarten side represents the evolution of the theatre from antiquity to the golden age of the theatre in Elizabethan England. As spectators in Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, we witness the scene in the Capulets’ tomb in which a suicidal Romeo has collapsed beside Juliet, whom he believes to be dead.

In 1879, Klimt formed a partnership with two fellow students, his brother Ernst Klimt (1864-92) and the society painter Franz von Matsch (1861-1942). Over the next decade, they received numerous commissions for the decoration of public buildings, including the new Burgtheater. Here, in 1886-87, Klimt created impressive ceiling paintings in both staircases.

In the state staircase on the “Landtmann” side of the Burgtheater - the side nearest the renowned Caf� Landtmann - Gustav Klimt recreated the theatre of antiquity in Taormina, Sicily. The state staircase on the “Volksgarten” side is adorned with a depiction of the London Globe Theatre and the final scene from Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” In the background, the painter immortalized himself and his two colleagues.

Emperor Franz Joseph was so delighted with the paintings in the gala staircases that he bestowed the Golden Cross of Merit on the members of the artists’ group.

The Hofburgtheater, finally inaugurated in October 1888 after a prolonged construction period, marked the completion of the mammoth Ringstraße building project. The highlights of the theatre’s artistic decoration are the panels from 1886-87 painted on the ceilings of two state staircases, one on the Landtmann side and the other on the Volksgarten side in the main building of the Burgtheater. The main panels, which are spread out along the central axis of the ceiling, have theatre history as their subject. They are early works by brothers Gustav and Ernst Klimt and by Franz Matsch.

In terms of prestige, the commission was practically without parallel at the time: the work had been commissioned by the Emperor himself. The theatre, a meeting place for the upper reaches of society, was also an institution bathed in the limelight of public attention. It is therefore not surprising that the work made the young artists known to a wider public almost overnight. It was their first significant state commission and a turning point in their careers.

Klimt designed a frieze combining mosaic with painted sections for the dining room of the Palais Stoclet in Brussels, which was built between 1905 and 1911 by the Wiener Werkstätte under the direction of Klimt’s friend and fellow Secessionist, the architect Josef Hoffmann. Executed by Leopold Forstner’s Wiener Mosaik-Werkstätte, the frieze consists of 15 marble panels 2 m high, representing an abundantly spreading Tree of Life. In its branches swarm brightly coloured birds and butterflies.

The mosaics adorn the three walls of the dining room. The main panels are referred to as “Expectation”, “The Tree of Life”, and “Fulfillment”. The materials Klimt used in the frieze include ceramic, gilded tiles, pearls, and marble.

In the “Tree of Life” panel, Klimt tackles the age-old symbology of the tree of life, which has been around for thousands of years within theology, philosophy and mythology. This concept dates back to the time of the ancient Egyptians, which seemed to have influenced Klimt in this piece (notice the Egyptian looking eyes and bird located within the tree). The tree of life symbolizes the interconnection of all things, including heaven, hell, earth, life and death.

The “Expectation” panel features a woman in a patterned dress that looks as if she was inspired by ancient Egyptian art as well. Her dress is highly decorative and expands as it nears the ground.

The “Fulfillment” panel features a couple locked in an embrace. The clothes seem to entwine them both together. Elements of the patterned clothing of the figures mimic those found within the tree itself.

Today, the mansion is still privately owned by the Stoclet family; it is not open to the public. However, you can see the cartoons for the final “The Stoclet Frieze” mosaic on display at the �sterreichisches Museum f�r angewandte Kunst (Austrian Museum of Applied Arts) in Vienna. The working drawings specify the use of enamel, gold inlay and coloured glass.

The picture shows one of the nine cartoons displayed in the museum.

Klimt designed a frieze combining mosaic with painted sections for the dining room of the Palais Stoclet in Brussels, which was built between 1905 and 1911 by the Wiener Werkstätte under the direction of Klimt’s friend and fellow Secessionist, the architect Josef Hoffmann. Executed by Leopold Forstner’s Wiener Mosaik-Werkstätte, the frieze consists of 15 marble panels 2 m high, representing an abundantly spreading Tree of Life. In its branches swarm brightly coloured birds and butterflies.

The mosaics adorn the three walls of the dining room. The main panels are referred to as “Expectation”, “The Tree of Life”, and “Fulfillment”. The materials Klimt used in the frieze include ceramic, gilded tiles, pearls, and marble.

In the “Tree of Life” panel, Klimt tackles the age-old symbology of the tree of life, which has been around for thousands of years within theology, philosophy and mythology. This concept dates back to the time of the ancient Egyptians, which seemed to have influenced Klimt in this piece (notice the Egyptian looking eyes and bird located within the tree). The tree of life symbolizes the interconnection of all things, including heaven, hell, earth, life and death.

The “Expectation” panel features a woman in a patterned dress that looks as if she was inspired by ancient Egyptian art as well. Her dress is highly decorative and expands as it nears the ground.

The “Fulfillment” panel features a couple locked in an embrace. The clothes seem to entwine them both together. Elements of the patterned clothing of the figures mimic those found within the tree itself.

The final section, as in the Beethoven Frieze, shows an embracing couple and is also related in style and conception to Klimt’s painting The Kiss.

Today, the mansion is still privately owned by the Stoclet family; it is not open to the public. However, you can see the cartoons for the final “The Stoclet Frieze” mosaic on display at the �sterreichisches Museum f�r angewandte Kunst (Austrian Museum of Applied Arts) in Vienna. The working drawings specify the use of enamel, gold inlay and coloured glass.

The picture shows one of the nine cartoons displayed in the museum.

Klimt designed a frieze combining mosaic with painted sections for the dining room of the Palais Stoclet in Brussels, which was built between 1905 and 1911 by the Wiener Werkstätte under the direction of Klimt’s friend and fellow Secessionist, the architect Josef Hoffmann. Executed by Leopold Forstner’s Wiener Mosaik-Werkstätte, the frieze consists of 15 marble panels 2 m high, representing an abundantly spreading Tree of Life. In its branches swarm brightly coloured birds and butterflies.

The mosaics adorn the three walls of the dining room. The main panels are referred to as “Expectation”, “The Tree of Life”, and “Fulfillment”. The materials Klimt used in the frieze include ceramic, gilded tiles, pearls, and marble.

In the “Tree of Life” panel, Klimt tackles the age-old symbology of the tree of life, which has been around for thousands of years within theology, philosophy and mythology. This concept dates back to the time of the ancient Egyptians, which seemed to have influenced Klimt in this piece (notice the Egyptian looking eyes and bird located within the tree). The tree of life symbolizes the interconnection of all things, including heaven, hell, earth, life and death.

The “Expectation” panel features a woman in a patterned dress that looks as if she was inspired by ancient Egyptian art as well. Her dress is highly decorative and expands as it nears the ground.

The “Fulfillment” panel features a couple locked in an embrace. The clothes seem to entwine them both together. Elements of the patterned clothing of the figures mimic those found within the tree itself.

Today, the mansion is still privately owned by the Stoclet family; it is not open to the public. However, you can see the cartoons for the final “The Stoclet Frieze” mosaic on display at the �sterreichisches Museum f�r angewandte Kunst (Austrian Museum of Applied Arts) in Vienna. The working drawings specify the use of enamel, gold inlay and coloured glass.

The picture shows one of the nine cartoons displayed in the museum.

Klimt’s late works reveal a new emphasis on compositional intricacy and elaborate structuring devices which also characterizes his last allegorical paintings, including Leda (1917; destroyed), Adam and Eve (c. 1917 , Belvedere, Vienna) and The Bride (1917-18; Belevedere, Vienna).

The first version of the portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer (1907) marks the height of Klimt’s gold-encrusted manner of painting, of which The Kiss is the other outstanding example.

The background of The Kiss consists of gold swirls; gold discs and coloured, geometric patterns cover the couple’s robes. The realistic treatment of their partly visible heads and the woman’s right hand balances the abstract patterns which dominate the composition.

In 1905 Klimt and a group of like-minded artists resigned from the Secession when others questioned the society’s ties with commerce. Afterwards, apart from the two Kunstschau exhibitions of 1908 and 1909, he exhibited in Vienna infrequently and started to feel increasingly isolated from the development of the Austrian avant-garde. It is also noticeable that after The Kiss and Death and Life, he embarked on no other major allegorical or narrative paintings for nearly a decade. The sole exception is The Maiden, a stylized reworking of the theme of lesbian dalliance, prefigured in Watersnakes (1904-07; �sterreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna).

This scene is on the ceiling in the state staircase on the Landtmann side.

In 1905 Klimt and a group of like-minded artists resigned from the Secession when others questioned the society’s ties with commerce. Afterwards, apart from the two Kunstschau exhibitions of 1908 and 1909, he exhibited in Vienna infrequently and started to feel increasingly isolated from the development of the Austrian avant-garde. It is also noticeable that after The Kiss and Death and Life, he embarked on no other major allegorical or narrative paintings for nearly a decade. The sole exception is The Maiden, a stylized reworking of the theme of lesbian dalliance, prefigured in Watersnakes.

In 1905 Klimt and a group of like-minded artists resigned from the Secession when others questioned the society’s ties with commerce. Afterwards, apart from the two Kunstschau exhibitions of 1908 and 1909, he exhibited in Vienna infrequently and started to feel increasingly isolated from the development of the Austrian avant-garde. It is also noticeable that after The Kiss and Death and Life, he embarked on no other major allegorical or narrative paintings for nearly a decade. The sole exception is The Maiden, a stylized reworking of the theme of lesbian dalliance, prefigured in Watersnakes.