The Kiss
From Ask in Wiki
|
| The Kiss |
| Gustav Klimt, 1907-1908 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 180 × 180 cm |
| Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna |
| 64 worlds greatest paintings |
The Kiss was painted by Gustav Klimt, and is probably his most famous work. It depicts a couple shrouded in gold and symbols sharing a kiss against a timeless background.
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.
- That the female is succumbing to the male and experiencing a moment of sexual ecstacy.
Some think that Klimt and his beloved partner Emilie Flöge modelled for the masterpiece.
This painting is somewhat out of the norm for Klimt as many of his paintings were of powerful, striking women such as Pallas Athene, 1898.
New Seven Wonders of the World: Chichen Itza, Christ the Redeemer, Colosseum, Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu, Petra, Taj Mahal, Great Pyramid of Giza
22 sculptures: Christ the Redeemer
44 buildings: Eiffel Tower • Colosseum • Big Ben • St Basil's Cathedral • Chichen Itza
64 paintings: American Gothic • Arnolfini marriage • Bacchus and Ariadne • Birth of Venus • Black Square • Burial of St. Lucy • Creation of Adam • Danae • Flight of a Bee • Girl with a Pearl Earring • Guernica • Haywain • Icon of the Trinity • Les Demoiselles d'Avignon • Liberty Leading the People • Madonna Litta • Mona Lisa • Moulin de la Galette • Olympia • Ship of Fools • Sistine Madonna • The Crucifixion of St. Peter • The Death Of Marat • The Great Wave • The Kiss • The Last Supper • The Nude Maja • The Old Guitarist • The Persistence of Memory • The School of Athens • The Scream • The Son of Man • The Starry Night • The Sunflowers • The Third of May • Tower of Babel • Triumph of Galatea • Venus at Her Mirror • Venus de Milo • Venus of Urbino • View of Toledo • Vitruvian Man
