£3,000 - £6,500
Gustav Klimt Certified 22ct Gold Limited Edition "The Kiss"
12101 - A truly beautiful 22 carat gold silkscreen limited edition by Gustav Klimt titled the “The Kiss”. This Silkscreen is one of only 100 published Worldwide. It has been painstakingly and skilfully hand embellished throughout with genuine 22 carat Gold Leaf and printed to museum grade archival standard. The limited edition is hand numbered and will be accompanied by a certificate of authentication signed by the "Master Printer". This amazing piece of art has been professionally framed by a master framer to an extremely high standard in a bespoke frame and has been float mounted. In immaculate condition. Please view the photos to appreciate the gold leaf work and the standard of the framing. Please note that this silkscreen will be supplied with a replacement valuation certificate for £6000 (free of charge) Please check the size as this is a large piece of fine art. The Kiss (original Der Kuss) was painted by Gustav Klimt, and is probably his most famous work. He began work on it in 1907 and it is the highpoint of his so-called 'Golden Period', when he painted a number of works in a similar style. It depicts a couple embracing, their bodies largely hidden by elaborate robes decorated in a style that bears little relation to any historical textile designs. As well as conventional oil paint, gold leaf has been used, one of the aspects of the work that gives it a strikingly modern appearance, while evoking memories of much earlier art. The painting is now in the Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere museum, in Vienna, Austria.
In The Kiss, Klimt depicted a couple locked in an embrace. The rest of the painting dissolves into shimmering, extravagant flat patterning. This patterning has clear ties to Art Nouveau and to the Arts and Crafts movement and also evokes the conflict between two- and three-dimensionality intrinsic to the work of Degas and other modernists. Paintings such as The Kiss were visual manifestations of fin-de-siecle spirit because they capture a decadence conveyed by opulent and sensuous images. The use of gold leaf recalls medieval "gold-ground" paintings and illuminated manuscripts, and earlier mosaics, and the spiral patterns in the clothes recall Bronze Age art, and the decorative tendrils seen in Western art since before classical times. The man's head ends very close to the top of the canvas, a departure from traditional Western canons that reflects the influence of Japanese prints, as does the very simplified composition
. H: 137.0cm W: 137.0cm D: 6.0cm
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