Where Is The Kiss? See It at Belvedere Museum

Gustav Klimt painted The Kiss between 1907 and 1908, at the height of his Golden Period. A couple embraces on a flower-covered cliff edge. The man bends to kiss the woman's cheek; her eyes close in rapture. Their bodies dissolve into a single shape wrapped in gold and geometric patterns.

The Austrian government bought the painting before Klimt finished it, paying 25,000 crowns, five times higher than any previous painting sold in Vienna. It was exhibited in 1908 at the Kunstschau, a building Klimt helped design, during celebrations for Emperor Franz Joseph's sixtieth anniversary. The work became an instant icon.

At 180 by 180 centimeters, the canvas is a perfect square, unusual for its era. It now hangs at the Belvedere Museum in Vienna. Klimt combined oil paint with gold leaf, silver, and platinum, drawing on Byzantine mosaics he'd seen in Ravenna. His father and brother had been metalworkers, so gold carried personal meaning. This remains the most famous work of the Vienna Secession movement.

Klimt's most famous work and a symbol of Vienna Secession, celebrated for its gold leaf decoration.

It's at the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, Austria. The Austrian government purchased it in 1908, the same year it was exhibited. It's been in Vienna ever since and is the Belvedere's most famous work.

Gustav Klimt applied gold leaf over oil paint on canvas, a technique inspired by Byzantine mosaics he saw during a trip to Ravenna, Italy. The gold creates a flat, decorative surface that contrasts with the realistic faces and hands of the two figures.

The painting measures 180 cm × 180 cm (about 6 × 6 feet). It's a perfect square. Klimt worked on it during his 'Golden Phase' (roughly 1899-1910), when he incorporated gold and silver leaf into many of his most celebrated works.

Klimt never identified them. Some art historians believe the man is a self-portrait of Klimt and the woman is his longtime companion Emilie Flöge. Others see the figures as universal, representing love itself. The woman kneels at the edge of a cliff, adding a subtle element of danger to the embrace.

It's associated with Vienna Secession and Symbolism. Klimt co-founded the Vienna Secession in 1897 as a break from conservative academic art. The Kiss blends Symbolist themes of love and desire with decorative, almost abstract patterning influenced by Japanese and Byzantine art.

The Kiss

Details

Estimated Value

Where to See It

The Artist

Historical Significance

More by Gustav Klimt

Female organ player

Draft of a theater curtain

Portrait of a lady

Head Study of a Girl from Haná

Also at Belvedere Museum

Female organ player

Fog

Self portrait at the age of 35

Death and Life

Related Symbolism Works

The Oyster Eater

Self-Portrait with Mirror

The Crossing

Boy with a Crow

Lemminkäinen's Mother

Rustic Life

Symposium

Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889

About The Kiss

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