GajimaruClassics.Preferences stay on this device. Reveal a painting without changing them.
Gustav Klimt · 1907
painting
Select a detail to locate it.
Klimt’s embracing couple kneel at the edge of a flowering meadow. Gold, silver and platinum leaf enter the painted surface. Shown in Vienna in 1908 as The Lovers, the canvas was bought by the Austrian state before it was finished.
The robes distinguish the figures: geometric blocks on his, circles and flowers on hers. Their bodies meet within a shared shimmering outline. The woman’s identification as Emilie Flöge remains a theory, rather than an established portrait identity.
1907
Belvedere
Klimt painted it at the height of what is called his Golden Period, laying real gold, silver and platinum leaf over oil paint on canvas. Patterns set the two figures apart, geometric shapes on the man's robe against flowers and circles on the woman's, inside a shimmering halo.
The couple kneel at the edge of a flowering meadow. Their bodies join within a single gold form, with the robes’ patterns preserving their distinction.
Emilie Flöge has been proposed as the woman’s identity. This remains a theory; the face should not be treated as an established portrait of her.
The Austrian state bought the unfinished painting at the Kunstschau in Vienna in 1908. Exhibited as The Lovers, it appeared as Der Kuss in the museum catalogue the following year.
1907. Klimt probably begins the painting, at the height of his Golden Period.
1908. He shows it at the Kunstschau in Vienna, still unfinished and still called Liebespaar, The Lovers. The Austrian state buys it on the spot.
1909. The museum catalogue uses the title Der Kuss, The Kiss.
It hangs today in the Belvedere in Vienna.
Klimt’s Golden Period incorporates metal leaf into painting. Here gold, silver and platinum contribute to a surface organised by ornamental pattern.
