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StillnessArt fact

Gustav Klimt worked actual gold and silver leaf into paintings like 'The Kiss', so the surface catches light almost like the Byzantine mosaics that inspired him.

Art history (Gustav Klimt)

Art

The story behind the card

Klimt's father was an engraver who worked in gold, so the material was familiar from childhood, and Klimt had already used gold leaf in paintings such as Judith I of 1901. A trip to Italy in 1903, when he saw the glittering Byzantine mosaics of the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna, pushed him further. The Kiss, painted in 1907 and 1908 in oil with gold leaf, silver and platinum, is the high point of what scholars call his Golden Period. The Austrian government bought it, still unfinished, when it was first exhibited in Vienna in 1908, and it hangs today in the Upper Belvedere.

Türkçe oku
Gustav Klimt, Öpücük gibi tablolarına gerçek altın ve gümüş varak işledi. Bu yüzden tablonun yüzeyi, ressama ilham veren Bizans mozaikleri gibi ışığı yakalar.

Klimt'in babası altın oymacısıydı; bu yüzden altın, ressamın çocukluğundan tanıdığı bir malzemeydi. Klimt, 1901 tarihli Judith I gibi tablolarında da altın varak kullanmıştı. 1903'teki İtalya gezisinde Ravenna'daki San Vitale Kilisesi'nin ışıl ışıl Bizans mozaiklerini görmesi, onu bu yolda daha da ileri götürdü. 1907-1908'de yağlıboyanın yanı sıra altın varak, gümüş ve platinle yapılan Öpücük, uzmanların “Altın Dönem” dediği evresinin doruğudur. Avusturya devleti tabloyu, 1908'de Viyana'da ilk kez sergilendiğinde, henüz bitmemişken satın aldı. Eser bugün Viyana'daki Yukarı Belvedere Sarayı'nda sergileniyor.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: The Kiss (Klimt)
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