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.

Klimt's Death and Life

Among the master pieces of Gustav Klimt, Death and Life won the first price at the world exhibition in Rome in 1911. The award was a great honor for Gustav Klimt paintings and also a clear indication of his standing within the artistic community.

 

Death and Life has two very clearly separated parts. To the left, we see Death. Death is depicted and the classic grim reaper, a grinning skull, covered in a dark robe covered with symbols. The main symbol we see covering Death is that of the cross.

 

To the right we see life. We see a number of young women lying on a flower bed. We have seen similar flower beds before, e.g. in The Kiss We see a newly created life, a baby, lying in their arms. We see a muscular man holding one of the women and we see an older woman also lying in the middle of the group. The depiction thus covers people, young and old, with a focus on the adults in their best age. There is an over representation of women in the painting which could refer to women as the source of all life. It could also reflect Klimt’s preference for depiction women, preferably somewhat undressed. All the subjects are somewhat covered by cloth bearing numerous symbols.

The composition and execution is thus typical Klimt, with symbols taking a center stage. The scene on the flower bed is also reminiscent of Klimt’s The Virgin, though the presence of a man, child and older woman are differences. Still, the overall depiction is very similar.

 

The title and order of things is another interesting facet of this painting. You would normally refer to Life and Death but Klimt depicts it otherwise, as if Death comes first, stalking life.

 

Death and Life can today be found in a private collection.

The Subject in Art

A look at the subjects of art from the perspective of great painters such as Van Gogh and Claude Monet and how they helped to change the way that people viewed great art. This change from the renaissance splendor to more ordinary subjects whose beauty would normally be overlooked. read the full article of The Subject in Art

Avenue in the Park of Kammer Castle

When thinking of the mature works of Klimt, depictions of gold and symbols are what most readily come to mind. Indeed, with works like The Kiss and Adele Bloch-Bauer I among his work, it is works like these that have come to define Klimt the artist. However, it is also not the complete story about Klimt. He also did paint other more traditional pieces. Indeed, some works had a more post-impressionist vibe almost like the works of Van Gogh. A case in point is Avenue in the Park of Kammer Castle, which was painted by Gustav Klimt in 1912.

 

The painting depicts the tree lined cobblestone street leading down to the castle. The trees lining the street show off their long brown limps leading to more lush green crowns at the top. Beyond these road trees, even more greenery is also visible. Beyond we see the yellow castle building with its red roof and wooden gate. The depiction is not exact but rather relies on color over line and some freedom of interpretation by Klimt. This is in line with a post-impressionistic streak we do not normally see from the artist. The brush strokes of Gustav Klimt paintings remain gentle and hidden, however.

 

Today, Avenue in the Park of Kammer Castle can be seen at the Belvedere in Vienna.

Hygeia

Trained as an architectural painter, Gustav Klimt paintings contributed to the interior decorations of numerous public buildings in Vienna. Among the more famous cases are the faculty paintings he completed for the University of Vienna in the years 1900-07. The three paintings, Medicine, Philosophy and Jurisprudence, covered three central faculties at the school. The paintings were unfortunately all destroyed by retreating SS forces in May 1945.

 

The second of the three works was unveiled at the tenth Secession Exhibition in 1901. This work covered Medicine. In the painting we find a river of life running in the upper part, with a floating girl and her newborn symbolizing life and a skeleton within the river of life symbolizing its ties to death. In the lower part of the painting, we find Hygeia, the Greek goodness of health, cleanliness and sanitation and daughter of the god of medicine. Standing there in her red robes, the Aesculapius snake is wrapped around her arm while she is holding the cup of Lethe in her hand (the drinking of which results in the loss of memory). A photo of Hygeia taken before the destruction of the painting ensures that we have a clear view of how this masterful depiction looked.

 

In the painting, we see Hygeia somewhat turning her back to mankind. She seems aloof and somewhat abstracted. Combined with the river of life present, it provides a sort of an ambiguous unity of life and death in the painting. This ambiguous unity was interpreted as a lacking role for medicine in curing the sick and preventing death. The piece was thus widely criticized for this when it was first revealed. The faculty paintings were also accused of being perverted and pornographic, though that is hardly unusual for works of Klimt at this time.

 

Still, the look and pose of Hygeia is one of power and deferred interest. She looks majestic in her red robe with golden symbols, as she considers her interest in what lays before her. It is a true Klimt master piece and one that highly deserves reproduction, so that we can once again enjoy its forceful beauty.

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.