Gustav Klimt's Controversial Conversation of Love and Lust: Klimt & The Kiss

  One of my favorite paintings is Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss. The use of gold leaf and the gentle expressions of the man and woman makes my romantic heart swoon.. Some see the romantic atmosphere while others feel it's slightly unnerving. The story behind it has been questioned since the start. The shapes and flowers might seem like a blob at first, but once you slowly take your time to appreciate the piece you see the woman's dress, the field of flowers, the man's blanket, hands caressing her face. It’s enchanting. Dangling off a cliff of a field of flowers Dr Ivan Ristic asks the question, “What happens after the kiss?”(Ray, 0:07:50). 

Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss, 1908

The documentary starts off in the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, Italy with hallways lined in gold which fits the golden love story. “The Belvedere has housed The Kiss  almost since it was founded [in 1903]” says Dr. Franz Smola, a curator at the museum (Ray, 0:08:26).  He lived a secluded life growing up which contrast how valued and sought after he was even in the early 1900s. The 1900s in Vienna was a period of balls, extravagant parties, military appreciation, while the immigrated and lower class citizens were growing poorer and poorer. The fact that Klimt could afford to finish school and be recognized for his art was a symbol of his talent. Dr. Marian Bisanz-Prakken says that while Klimt was at “the School of Arts and Crafts in Vienna” that “He had an acute awareness of human anatomy. His drawings were exceptional from the start”(0:14:12). Which shows since most of Klimt's art consists of figures, mostly women in fact. As well as dabbling in textiles, murals, commissioned sketches, etc which led to his fame more so than the “gold and eroticism” (Ray).

 “He radically changed his style and turned provocative. Suddenly it is Klimt who offends The who breaks bones. Who goes too far.”(Dr. Franz Smola, Ray, 0:18:54). That's the Gustav Klimt the world is used to seeing. The overly sexualized, Art Nouveau painter, whose expensive gold leaf paintings and drawings of women shocked the art world. The rest of the documentary goes on about this change, the impact, and Klimt's history, but let’s interrupt and respond to the question, “How is this a critical issue in Modern Art?”.

Drawing people nude has been a practice since the beginning of time. Every art school has used the practice order to teach accurate anatomy, still life technical skills, and the study of light and/or color. That’s nothing new even in 1900s Vienna. What was shocking was Gustav Klimt's use of naked women in a provocative or sexual light in order to invoke a sense of otherworldly intoxication. It was certainly a jump from cathedral like murals but poses the question, “Are these paintings inherently sexual or has the western world sexualized them?” which leads into the follow up question of, “Can something be provocative in a good way or will it set back feminism decades.”

“Nearly every civilization has created sexually explicit imagery, often in the context of spirituality, or rituals concerning fertility, to express cultural ideals of beauty and virtue, or in the case of pornography, for the express purpose of viewers’ arousal”(Burk). This erotic painting, is actually based on the biblical story which is the titular, Judith And The Head Of Holofernes. In summary, in order for Judith to protect her home Bethulia, she enters Assyria, gets the commander Holofernes drunk, and violently cuts off his head (Spearman). Which invokes a divisive conversation about the purpose of painting Judith this way. Is it to show her courageous strength in her most 

Judith And The Head of  Holofernes, 1901

vulnerable state? Or maybe it’s focusing on the fact that Judith abandoned her people and led herself into the commander's bedroom. The history shows that she did so to save her people but the idea that an independent woman could spell trouble has been a story told to belittle women and their achievements. The “Femme Fatale” philosophy has entered the Art Nouveau, Klimt uses that to his advantage, and that's why he “turned provocative”. To make a statement and invoke controversial conversation.

So back to The Kiss, the visually romantic and careful loving couple. A complete jump from Judith. There are multiple different influences and opinions for what is being depicted. Some say it is “...the sleeping Ariadne who is discovered by Dionysus on the island of Naxos and is then picked up and kissed” (0:32:47). Others claim it was medieval art or maybe Japanese with the use of metal gold leaf (Ray). Art Nouveau is the art period of using different mediums to “express essential human truths” (Ray, 0:22:33) including love and lust. The influences and ideas of what goes on in The Kiss are endless but the one fact remains, it invokes a conversation and it’s up to the audience to decide if it is morally or ethnically right or wrong.

Sources

1. AnOther. “Little-Known Facts about Symbolist Master Gustav Klimt.” AnOther, October 27, 2017. https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/10312/little-known-facts-about-symbolist-master-gustav-klimt. 

2. Burk, Tara. “Sexuality in Art.” Sexuality in Art | Art History Teaching Resources. Accessed August 28, 2025. https://arthistoryteachingresources.org/lessons/sexuality-in-art/#:~:text=Sexuality%20has%20been%20a%20recurrent,”%20(1972:%2056). 

3. Spearman, Marc. “Gustav Klimt Judith and the Head of Holofernes - a Representation of Female Rage.” Gustav Klimt, December 14, 2022. https://iklimt.com/gustav-klimt-judith-and-the-head-of-holofernes/. 

4. Klimt & The Kiss. Directed by Ali Ray. Seventh Art Productions, 2023. Accessed August 27, 2025.