The Kiss

Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss 1907

Romantic depictions in Art at the time of Gustav Klimt were at the first stages of being more “realistic” emotional than they had previously been.  For the first time, the Impressionist Movement captured the emotions of the movement rather than a snapshot. Klimt captures a young couple in an embrace.

The woman is not only knelling, but has her toes and necked curved at an uncomfortable angle. Klimt’s lifestyle reflected his view of women as objects by hiring them as nude models. The women in The Kiss is uncomfortable and has a position manipulated by the man, but sticking too his lifestyle, Klimt paints her face with a peaceful expression. Although each of the subjects clothing is embellished with gold, the male’s clothing has more rigid shapes while the women’s drapery is covered in circles—almost mirroring the flowers below her. The man holds the women in a very rigid position and does not show his face.

The couple seems to be on the edge of a cliff as they embrace. Love is an uncertain emotion because it must be shared between two people. There is a ecstatic feeling associated with love and that it can end very quickly. The edge of the cliff represents how closely to the edge a couple can be.

The landscape of The Kiss is very limited. The couple is knelling in a bed of flowers while their background is a mess of black flecked heavily with gold. The haziness of the gold along with the flowers gives the scenery of the kiss an almost dreamlike state.

The ratio of the width of the couple to the ratio of their height from the ground represents the golden mean. The mass of the couple, in addition to the platform they are knelling on takes up almost the entire height of the painting. The lightening at the scene of The Kiss is at a dark time of the day, most likely dusk. A bright background would bring attention to the couple, when they are clearly sharing a private moment.