Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II

Gustav Klimt did a number of portraits, especially of women, in his career. However, there was only one woman whom Klimt actually painted twice. That woman was Adele Bloch-Bauer, the wife of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer who was a wealthy business man and supporter of Klimt paintings.  The more famous of these two portraits is the first one, which was done during the height of Klimt’s golden period.

The second portrait was painted by Klimt in 1912, five years after the first one. It offers a very different palette from the golden painting of 1907. Instead, we see Adele Bloch-Bauer in a rather bland grayish robe, as she stands in the middle of the painting. The robe itself seems inspired by the Japanese arts and styles that had already made quite an impact in European art. Standing among flowers, a parade of sorts seems to be taking place in the background. The background colors and fairly subdued, unlike in the first portrait where the golden colors shined. The symbolism is also less obvious, though the combined use of men and flowers offers a few interpretations in this regard in the painting.

“Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II” was sold on auction at Christies in 2006 for USD 88 million. As such, it is among the most expensive paintings in the world.

Hope II

Gustav Klimt Paintings involved avid depictions of women and children also made an appearance in a number of his paintings, including works like Death and Life. However, throughout the ages depictions of pregnant women have been rare and the works of Klimt are no exception. In Hope II, Klimt makes an exception by portraying a woman with her large pregnant belly. A skull is attached to the gown. Below her, three other women also bow their heads. Whether they are praying for a safe birth or actually morning cannot be said for sure.

The dress of the women and the surface they seem to rest on is extremely ornate, as is the style of Klimt. This is combined with byzantine style gold leaf painting around the main subjects to create a unified whole for the subject to rest in, and to keep our attention towards the central figures.

The focus of the painting on the bringing about of a new life, combined with the uncertain symbols and death and maybe mourning, reflects Klimt’s drive to depict the modern psychological subjects of the time. Klimt was an inhabitant of turn of the century Vienna, together with influences like Freud himself, and this springs through in works like Hope II.

Klimt’s Hope II can today be found in the collection of the Museum of Modern Arts in New York City.

Klimt Reproductions

We continuously see more and more cases of art being reproduced today. Numerous websites offers reproductions of varying quality of the great masters, including Gustav Klimt reproductions. On the surface of things, reproducing Klimt could seem as among the more difficult tasks. His paintings offer sophisticated structures but not only that – he also used gold leaf in paintings like “The Kiss”. This made his original art expensive in his own day, and would not make it any less so today.

Fortunately, there have been some developments in the world of paint since then. Indeed, using gold paint in the place of gold leaf, painters are able to reproduce works of Klimt with uncanny resemblance. All of a certain, “Portraits of Adele Bloch-Bauer I”, “The Kiss” and more can indeed be reproduced to adorn the home. While the material is different and some historical notes on Klimt’s process might not be included, unless one wants to pay for real gold to be used of course, it also offers an exceptional opportunity to bring the beauty of Klimt right into your own home. Indeed, after looking at a few such paintings, we can honestly say that the results are not only impressive but uncanny in quality as well. It is also a definitive step upwards from posters and the like. Today, such reproductions can be made in high quality and we are very happy for it. 

The Three Ages of women

Around 1905, after having completed such works as Judith I and the university paintings, Gustav Klimt paintings “The Three Ages of women”. It was his first allegory that did not rely on historical and mythological figures. It was also the beginning of the larger multi figure allegories that took up much of the artist’s time in his later years.

Three Ages of Women depicts three women at different times of their lives. The youngest is the baby. She is in turn being held by the mother, still young but an adult. Last is the old woman, standing next to them and looking down. The three figures are set against a symbolic background so common in Klimt’s work. These symbols hold the energy of life and surrounds our main three figures. Outside this area, which holds all three figures, more uniform colors of gold and darkness prevail, a void that is close by but for now kept at bay. This structure also helps ensuring that our focus is kept on the three central figures.

The same three figures can be made out in both Medicine and Death and Life, other paintings by Klimt. After the death of his son Otto in 1902, Klimt became increasingly occupied with the subject of death and that can have helped lead to these paintings. As is customary for Klimt, notice that the focus is always on the female shape in these paintings.

Three ages of Women can today be found at the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna in Rome, Italy.

Birch Forest (Buchenwald)

Looking at the works of Gustav Klimt, it is clearly his use of gold, his symbolism and to a certain extend his femme fatales that stand out. Klimt painted The Kiss, Judith I and Adele Bloch-Bauer I and II and all of these paintings stand out as highly unique masterpieces.

However, not all of Klimt’s paintings were equally golden, equally erotic or equally full of direct symbolism. A good example of a completely different painting from is Birch Forest (Buchenwald) painted by Klimt in 1901. There is no gold, no woman and no direct symbols, unless the trees themselves are seen as such.

However, some of Klimt’s trademarks still remain. The painting is first of all decently sized at 110x110 cm. The second is Klimt’s technique. The trees are almost combinations of rectangles, the leaves carefully yet numerously rendered, not unlike the flower bed in The Kiss but in greater detail. The base of the trees are similarly colored in the manner of the background from The Kiss, with an almost foggy combination of the same colors, almost like pointillism without points, instead applying varied shapes. As such, even in this beautiful forest depiction, the work of Klimt is still visible, indeed shines through.

The Birch Wood can today be found on display at the Wolfgang-Gurlitt-Museum in Germany. 

Judith carrying the head of Holofernes

Painted by Gustav Klimt in 1901, the painting depicts Judith carrying the head of Holofernes. See more Gustav Klimt reproductions.

Originally told in the Book of Judith, Judith was a beautiful resourceful Israelite widow at the time when the Israelites were occupied by the Assyrians. With her maid she went to the camp of the Assyrian leader, General Holofernes, where she ingratiated herself while promising secret intel about her countrymen. Once she had gotten close enough to the general, she entered his tent one night while he was drunk and cut off his head and brought the head back to her countrymen. Fearful at the loss of their leader, the Assyrians dispersed and Israel was saved.

The painting by Klimt shows Judith carrying the head of Holofernes, thought the head in left in the lower right corner of the painting, allowing us to instead focus on Judith. She is wearing a flowing veil that unveils more than it covers, thus exposing her naked breast. Her eyes are half closed and her lips slightly parted, given the impression of almost sexual satisfaction with her deed. Klimt’s Judith is indeed a femme fatale, a vamp before that expression was ever invented.

Judith’s veil and the background meanwhile feature the gold and symbols that became Klimt’s trademark.

Judith I by Klimt is in the collection of Österreichische Galerie in Vienna, Austria.

Painting of Danae

Symbolist master Gustav Klimt painted Danae in 1907. The painting is based on the familiar Greek about Danae, daughter of the king of Argos. In the myth, it is foretold that the king will die at the hands of his daughters son. In order to avoid this destiny, the king has his daughter, Danae, locked up in a tower of Bronze. However, while there she is visited by Zues, in the form of a shower of gold, who impregnates her. She later gives birth to Perseus who in turn later, though accidentally, kills her father.

In the Klimt painting, the eroticism of the situation is hardly understated. The shower of gold that is Zeus is flowing freely between the legs of Danae. Meanwhile, her eyes are closed, her lips slightly parted and she definitely looks aroused. She is giving herself to the king of the gods. While lying there, she is covered only by a thin veil in the color of royal purple. The color of the veil is a further indication of her imperial lineage, with purple being the imperial color.

Should you wish to view this highly erotic symbolist painting “live”, it is on display at the Galerie Würthle in Vienna, Austria.

Pallas Athene

“...Her terrible eyes shining...” (Iliad I.200)

The above quote from the Iliad talks about the gaze of Greek goddess Pallas Athene, whose worship was the state religion of ancient Athens. Athene was the goddess of wisdom and war, not an entirely logical combination, but her personality and appearance was suited for the mix. She was an almost asexual goddess, by some called a man in a woman’s body, an androgynous deity. However, she was also the favorite of heroes and artists, would-be heroes and poets.

Klimt’s depiction of Pallas Athene is less sexually laden than other female portraits produced by the artist. It is not the sheer sexuality of the goddess that is in focus, though it could be said that the power exhumed from her alone is enough to cause some sexual tension.

Behind the goddess, we see numerous of the characters of Greek myth. There is Heracles, the Medusa, and her own totem owl. None look fit to in any way compete with the power of the goddess, she is above and beyond them all. She is the guardian of Athens and the thought alone of going up against her should intimidate any man. Her eyes alone, as also explained in the Iliad quote above, show the futility of going against her will. Klimt makes sure we see that her gaze alone is more than can be taken by mortal man. See more Gustav Klimt paintings which you can have painted as reproduction artwork for your home.