The Kiss ~ Gustav Klimt
German Title : Der Kuss
Location :Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, Austria
Year : 1907 Size : 72"x72" (180 cmx180 cm)
My ultimate favorite and Klimt's most popular work. I think it's a romantic painting and I would never forget the first time I saw it in Jogja, the hotel I was staying held an art exhibition and they were displaying this painting (it was a repro though) and I thought it was so beautiful and romantic and I fell for it. When I got back from my holiday I kept on searching for this painting, I'd like to have it! But I couldn't find it until one day I got a package from Rondy, I thought he sent me a calendar and to my surprise it was THE KISS poster!!! I framed it and hung it on my wall and everybody who sees it goes,"Oh wow...." Thanks to Rondy for this!! He made it come true! For me, the romantic side shows in the way the life-sizes figueres posed. Just look at the way they embrace each other, don't you think it's romantic? Love really shows from the way the embrace each other. Man leaning over and kissing woman. Both figures are kneeling and shrouded in symbolically patterned gold with a bed of flowers below them. It shows both the masculinity of the guy and the feminity of the woman. The masculine side is shown by the guy's coat pattern of black, gray and white blocks and the laurel on his head while the feminine side is shown by the spinning circles of bright floral motifs and upward-flowing wavy lines on the woman's dress and the garlands on her head. Although many of Klimt's paintings were of women in intensely erotic poses, the title The Kiss may sound erotic for someone who haven't seen it, you may imagine it as a painting of two sexes locking lips but obviously, this painting is not erotic at all. Instead, it shows the intense love shared by both figures by the way he hold her face with her hands while kissing her cheek, the way she tilts her head to give her cheek to be kissed by him, the way she puts her arm around him and hold his hand. Utterly romantic. Click here for larger image and enjoy the fascination I have on this painting.
