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'The Kiss' by Gustave Klimt (1907-1908). My Favorite.
It's just an absolutely wonderous work of art.
Symbolism behind each aspect- for example, the woman's ornamentation is done with circles, while the man's is done with
rectangles.
Seems to embody his belief in the transforming power of love and art. The Kiss is a fascinating icon of
the loss of self that lovers experience. Only the faces and hands of this couple are visible; all the rest is great swirl
of gold, studded with colored rectangles as if to express visually the emotional and physical explosion of erotic love.
| My favorite.The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. |
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The man is standing, bending over to kiss the woman who is kneeling on a patch of flowers and seems to be accepting the
kiss, rather than actively participating. The portion of gold covering the man is covered with mostly rectangular, black and
white shapes, while the woman's portion seems to be dotted with bunches of flowers.
Various interpretations of The Kiss:
- That the common 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.
Some think that Klimt and his beloved partner Emilie Flöge modelled for the masterpiece.
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