128. The Kiss, Gustav Klimt

 

The Kiss Gustav Klimt. 1907-1908 C.E. Vienna, Austria. Oil and gold leaf on canvas This one employs intense ornament on the embracing couple's gilded clothing, so  thoroughly intertwined that the two bodies seem to be one   Form: oil on canvas, golf leaf

Function: suggest all consuming love and passion— permanence

Content:  a kissing couple on a precipice little of the human form is seen her face calm and passive, but with eyes closed very passionate his neck a sense of physical power and desire large, richly designed patterning on clothing male is more rectangular; female more circular reminds us of a religious icon with the gold - v byzantine, v medieval

Context: Art Nouveau Brussels, Barcelona, Paris, Vienna 1890-WWI seeks to eliminate separation of artistic mediums and combine them all into one a lot of vegetal and floral patterns, complex design, undulating surfaces During Modernization of Vienna in a time of chaos, an eternal and universal kiss