Klimt and the “Golden Phase” — What Goes Around Comes Around!

Gustav Klimt - Der Kuss (The Kiss) - Oil on canvas - 180 x 180 cm - Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna (click photo for larger image)In 1897, Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt’s (1862-1918) mature style emerged, and he founded the Vienna Sezession, a group of painters who revolted against academic art in favor of a highly decorative style similar to Art Nouveau. 

Klimt rarely traveled, but trips in 1903 to Venice and Ravenna, both famous for their beautiful mosaics, most likely inspired his gold technique The early Byzantine mosaics of San Vitale clearly made a lasting impression on him, and their influence is reflected in the development of his “golden style.” It was at this time that he began his so-called “Golden-Phase.” The “golden style” is noteworthy for the use of gold and sometimes silver leaf. There is a sense of horror vacui as almost all surfaces are ornately covered, frequently with geometric or floral elements. The figure takes on the quality of an icon and often appears to inhabit multiple environments. One of the most superb examples of Klimt’s “golden style” is his 1907 portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer 1 and The Kiss (1907-8). Klimt's 'Golden Phase' was marked by positive critical reaction and success.

The Kiss was painted at the highpoint of Klimt’s “Golden Phase”, during which period he painted a number of works in a similar gilded style. This work is a perfect square. The canvas depicts a couple embracing, their bodies entwined in elaborate robes decorated in a style influenced by both linear constructs of the contemporary Art Nouveau style, the organic forms of the earlier Arts and Crafts movement, and the influence of mosaics and medieval art. The work is composed of conventional oil paint with applied layers of gold leaf, an aspect that gives it its strikingly modern, yet evocative appearance. The Kiss is widely regarded as a masterpiece of the early modern period. It is a symbol of Vienna Jugendstil--Viennese Art Nouveau--and is considered Klimt's most popular work.

It is perhaps ironic that many Modern artists—in their determination to create something “new”—often returned to the art of the medieval world for inspiration. Their struggle was to break free from standards established during the Italian Renaissance, which had been in place for over four-hundred years. It is not at all uncommon to find many of the characteristics deeply embedded in the artistic traditions of the Byzantine Empire and Middle Ages reapplied and reinvented in Modern Art. “What Goes Around Comes Around”

Gericault: Capturing Animal Movement

Théodore Gericault - Lions in a Mountainous Landscape - ca. 1818–20 - Oil on wood - 19 x 23 1/2 in. (48.3 x 59.7 cm) - Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY (click photo for larger image)French painter Théodore Gericault (1791–1824) exerted a seminal influence on the development of Romanticism in France. Géricault was a man unduly attentive to style neatness and fashion, with respect to this personal appearance—and he was also an avid horseman. His dramatic paintings reflect his flamboyant and passionate personality. 

As a student Géricault, learned the traditions of English sporting art and developed a remarkable facility for capturing animal movement. He also mastered classicist figure construction and composition.  Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863), widely regarded as the greatest of the French Romantic painters, was profoundly influenced by Géricault, finding in his example a major point of departure for his own art.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art describes the painting featured here as follows: “This vigorous painting of six lions in a remote, spectrally illuminated lair—possibly intended to evoke the Atlas Mountains of Morocco—is an extraordinary example of Gericault’s spontaneous handling of paint. Rather than applying finishing touches to make a polished cabinet picture, the artist left the painting in a state known as an ébauche, a work prized for its strength of directly capturing a subject or effect. Until its acquisition by the Museum, the composition was known only by means of a replica (Musée du Louvre, Paris), which is thought to have been painted by an artist in Gericault’s circle.”

Ferdinand Hodler: Parallelism

Ferdinand Hodler - Night (Die Nacht) - 1889-1890 - Oil on canvas - Museum of Fine Arts, Berne. (click photo for larger image)Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) was one of the best-known Swiss painters of the nineteenth century. His early works were portraits, landscapes, and genre paintings in a realistic style. Later, he adopted a personal form of symbolism he called “Parallelism” - which emphasized the symmetry and rhythm he believed formed the basis of human society.

The work featured here, Night, marks Holdler’s turn toward symbolist imagery. It depicts several recumbent figures, all of them relaxed in sleep except for an agitated man who is menaced by a figure shrouded in black, which Hodler intended as a symbol of death.

Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes: “The Painter for France”

Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes - The Pastoral Life of Saint Geneviève, 1879 - Oil on canvas, triptych - Left panel: 53 x 32 1/4 in. - Center panel: 53 x 35 1/8 in. - Right Panel: 52 3/4 x 32 1/4 in. - Norton Simon Museum - Pasadena, CA (click photo for larger image)French painter Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898) attempted to recreate something of the monumental Italian fresco style in his huge decorative canvases, painted in oils. He kept his images flat and pale in color—and simplified the drawing—to give something of the effect of fresco. He decorated many Town Halls and other official buildings in France.

The work featured here revisits, at reduced scale, a large mural he painted between 1874 and 1979 at the Parisian Church of Sainte Geneviève (today known as the Panthéon). 

An officially sanctioned and commercially successful artist of the late nineteenth century, Puvis de Chavannes nevertheless inspired admiration among the radical artists of the Nabi Generation. Les Nabis was a group of Post-Impressionist avant-garde artists who set the pace for fine and graphic arts in France, in the 1890s.

Gustav Klimt: The Decorative Symbolist

Gustav Klimt - Adele Block-Bauer I - 1907 - Oil on canvas with gold and silver - Height: 136 cm (53.54 in.), Width: 138 cm (54.33 in.) - Neue Gallerie, New York (click photo for larger image)Two of the most famous masterpieces by Austrian Symbolist Painter Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) are on exhibit in New York—for all to see and enjoy!  

Adele Block-Bauer I (previously featured on this site) is in the permanent collection of the Neue Gallery. It was painted during what is known as the artist’s “golden phase”. 

Adele Block-Bauer II is on permanent loan to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). 

Gustav Klimt - Adele Block-Bauer II - 1912 - Oil on canvas. Private Collection - MoMA, New York (click photo for larger image)During World War II, Frau Adele Bloch-Bauer and several other Klimt paintings belonging to the Bloch-Bauer family were confiscated by the Nazis and eventually added to the collection of the Österreichische Gallery in Vienna. The legal battles fought for the return of the paintings are the focus of the 2015 film, Woman in Gold, directed by Simon Curtis and starring Helen Mirren.

Klimt trained (and for a time worked) as a designer, in the classical tradition. As he matured however, a unique, anti-classical style emerged in his work. He was one of the founders of the Vienna Sezession, a group of painters who revolted against academic art. They became established on April 3, 1897. There isn’t a single style that unites the work of all artists who were part of the secession. In fact, above its entrance was placed the phrase "Der Zeit ihre Kunst. Der Kunst ihre Freiheit”, which means, "To every age its art. To every art its freedom.". Secession artists were concerned, above all else, with exploring the possibilities of art outside the confines of academic tradition and historical influence. Klimt ultimately developed a highly decorative style, bearing a strong similarity to Art Nouveau. His primary interest was in the female form, and many of his works are characterized by a candid eroticism.