19/internal/media/dispatcher/54403/fullMother and Child, Embracing1922[Oskar Kokoschka]Oskar KokoschkaOil on canvasDuring his time in Dresden, Oskar Kokoschka composed this painting of a mother and child out of large planes of thickly applied paint in saturated hues of blue, green, and yellow. He shows the woman not as a benevolent Madonna offering comfort and safety, but as a person drained and exhausted, the child clinging to her, wanting to be close. In the early 1920s, Kokoschka’s painting style developed in a new direction that revealed the influence of German Expressionism. The emotional, graphic brushstrokes were replaced by a flat arrangement of colors. In some places the brushwork is transformed into compartments of color. Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/4462/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/94301/fullPortrait of the Artist's Wife, Edith Schiele1918[Egon Schiele]Egon SchieleOil on canvas“One evening Schiele was invited with his wife. She was completely obscured by her tousled blonde hair and a shy hesitancy,” wrote a friend of the artist’s about the young couple. They had married in 1915; three years later the Expressionist artist painted his wife with a highly sensitive gaze. It would be the first of his paintings to be acquired by a museum. But in the eyes of the then Director of the Belvedere (called the Österreichische Staatsgalerie at the time) it was too “arts-and-crafts” and vivid, whereupon Schiele reworked Edith’s dress in more muted hues. Technical analysis of the painting in 2018 brought this original version to light. This has been reconstructed and is shown here beside the final version of the painting.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/1029/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/94719/fullSquatting Couple (The Family)1918[Egon Schiele]Egon SchieleOil on canvasA man and a woman, both nude, are crouching in a dark room. A child peers out from between the woman’s legs. Positioned protectively behind them both, the man with alert eyes reveals Schiele’s features. His bony body contrasts with the woman’s soft curves, who looks down, lost in thought. Despite their physical proximity, the two bodies appear isolated. Schiele’s own family would never come into existence. His wife Edith died of Spanish flu on October 28, 1918, when she was six months pregnant. Egon Schiele died three days later. Art critic Berta Zuckerkandl thereupon first used the title “The Family” for Squatting Couple.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/3071/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/28578/fullThe Artist's Wife, Seated1917[Egon Schiele]Egon SchieleGouache on paperDrawing arthttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/1001/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/83174/fullThe Embrace1917[Egon Schiele]Egon SchieleOil on canvas Egon Schiele shows two lovers intimately embracing in an abstract space. Sprawled on a crumpled sheet, they cling to each other, while their lower bodies appear to be drifting apart. Schiele does not focus on a provocative display of nakedness. He dispenses with explicit poses and piercing gazes. Yet the bodies are still vehicles of inner states. Instead of the figures’ identities, the artist places universal themes at the heart of this depiction. Schiele’s image tells of desire and separation anxiety, tenderness and despair. Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/3232/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/128260/fullJohanna Staude1917/1918[Gustav Klimt, Johanna Staude, Österreichische Galerie]Gustav KlimtOil on canvas Johanna Staude gazes back at us with shining blue eyes. Gustav Klimt shows the young woman against an orange-red background with a fashionable hairstyle and wearing a dress with a striking pattern. It is named after a Wiener Werkstätte fabric called „Blätter“ (Leaves) and was designed by Martha Albers, a graduate from the Vienna School of Applied Arts. Wrapped around the sitter’s throat is a feather boa that draws our attention to her face. This serene and simple composition was one of Klimt’s last female portraits. The painter was a friend of Johanna Staude and she probably modeled for him on repeated occasions. Address directories document that she was also a language teacher and artist.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/4302/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/153749/fullRomana Kokoschka, the Artist's Mother1917[Oskar Kokoschka]Oskar KokoschkaOil on canvasDas Bildnis der Mutter Romana Kokoschka entstand bei einem Besuch in Dresden, wo sich der Künstler seit Dezember 1916 aufhielt. Als die Mutter abreist ist das Bild noch unvollendet. Kokoschka verlangte zur Fertigstellung eine unretouchierte, überfeinerte Fotografie als Vorlage (Brief Kokoschkas an seine Mutter, 19. Juli 1917). Dunkle Farbakkorde mit grün und blau dominieren die Fläche. Der pastose, breite Pinselstrich ist wellig und lässt einen Kontrast zwischen dem Bildmotiv der in sich ruhenden Mutter und dem dynamischen Bildgewebe entstehen. Kokoschka verzichtet in seinem Porträt der Mutter auf die Technik der kratzenden grafischen Schraffur, wie sie noch im Rentmeister zum Einsatz kam. Bereits ein Jahr zuvor setzte sich der damalige Direktor Fritz Novotny vehement für den Ankauf des Bildes ein: "Wir brauchen unter uns kaum ein Wort darüber zu verlieren, dass es sich um ein sehr bedeutendes Werk des Künstlers handelt und dass es eine wichtige Erwerbung für unser Museum wäre." (Archiv d. Österreichischen Galerie, Akt Zl. 425/1968). Kurzzeitig drohte der Ankauf aus finanziellen Gründen gar zu scheitern, ehe im März 1968 das Ministerium die Ankaufssumme bewilligte. Am 30. Mai 1968 wurde der Ankauf des Bildes der Wiener Presse vorgestellt. — [Harald Krejci, 4/2010]Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/4589/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/160632/fullBride1917/1918[Gustav Klimt]Gustav KlimtOil on canvas When Gustav Klimt died unexpectedly in February 1918, this colorful work was found unfinished on the easel in his studio. At the center of the painting is a young woman in blue, tilting her head dreamily toward the man on the left in the picture. He is surrounded by sensual, intertwined bodies, but he looks only at the woman by his side. There are still many puzzles surrounding this painting. Is Klimt exploring male desire? Or is the painting a symbol of a woman’s journey from child to adult and even to motherhood? Klimt depicted the relationship between man and woman one last time in this large allegorical work. The Bride was only added as the title after the artist’s death. Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/9020/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/160537/fullAdam and Eve1916 - 1918[Gustav Klimt, Sonja Knips, Galerie Gustav Nebehay, Österreichische Galerie]Gustav KlimtOil on canvas (unfinished) Klimt rarely engaged with biblical subjects during his career. One of his last works, unfinished at his death, shows the first humans, Adam and Eve. He was not interested in the more traditional depiction of the Fall, however, instead focusing on the figure of Eve as the quintessential female. Adam has closed his eyes, intoxicated with love, as he tilts his head and nestles tenderly against Eve. But Eve is looking straight at us. The anemones on the ground are emblems of fertility; the leopard skin, meanwhile, was a symbol in ancient Greece of unbridled desire. In Klimt’s interpretation, then, it is Eve—and not the snake—who is the temptress.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/3196/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/84004/fullDeath and Maiden1915[Egon Schiele]Egon SchieleOil on canvasMortality and death are existential themes that Schiele ventured to address time and again—here associated with a biographical event. It shows a couple, the young woman clinging with both arms to her lover. The man, a self-portrait of Schiele, stares into space. The fragile balance—the artist is alluding to this in the figures’ unstable poses—seems as if it could shatter at any moment. The girl is his long-term partner and model Wally Neuzil. He had split up with her to marry Edith Harms, who was from a middle-class family. After their separation, Neuzil trained as a nurse. In 1917 she died of scarlet fever during her wartime deployment.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/1968/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/83378/fullMother with Two Children III1915-1917[Egon Schiele]Egon SchieleOil on canvasPaintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/3267/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/5253/fullThe Visitation1912[Oskar Kokoschka]Oskar KokoschkaOil on canvasDas Bild entstand im Vorfeld der "Großen Kunstausstellung" 1912 in Dresden, wo es zum ersten Mal präsentiert wurde. Carl Moll, der künstlerische Leiter der Galerie Miethke und Förderer Kokoschkas, hatte in seiner Funktion als Ausstellungskommissär das Werk in Auftrag gegeben. Wurde das Gemälde bei der Dresdener Schau noch als "Weiblicher Akt" tituliert, so tritt im Rahmen einer Ausstellung der Berliner Secession im Jahre 1916 bereits die Bezeichnung "Heimsuchung" auf, die auch Kokoschka später verwendete. Aus unmittelbarer Nähe betrachtet sitzt ein monumental aufgefasster weiblicher Akt in einer Landschaft, an deren Horizont ein kleines Dorf zu erkennen ist. Kokoschka platziert die weibliche Gestalt nun nicht mehr vor einem diffusen Hintergrund, wie es für seine frühen Porträts typisch war, sondern erschließt den Tiefenraum entlang einer diagonalen Bildachse. Die den Bildaufbau dominierende kristalline Struktur, die auf den Einfluss von Kubismus und Futurismus zurückzuführen ist, relativiert jedoch wieder den somit entstandenen räumlichen Eindruck. Obwohl sich die "Heimsuchung" dem Titel nach einer Gruppe von biblischen Darstellungen aus den Jahren 1911/12 zuordnen lässt, ist der direkte alttestamentarische Bezug im ikonographischen Sinn nicht augenscheinlich. Vielmehr erinnert der Bildtypus einer sitzenden Frau mit sinnend aufgestütztem Kopf an die Tradition der Melancholiedarstellungen, die auf einen Kupferstich Albrecht Dürers aus dem Jahr 1514 zurückgehen. Carl Moll vermachte die "Heimsuchung" testamentarisch der österreichischen Galerie. — [Harald Krejci, 4/2010]Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/2802/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/74291/fullPaula Zuckerkandl1911[Gustav Klimt]Gustav KlimtPencil on paperDrawing arthttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/54849/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/109704/fullMother with Two Children (Family)1909/1910[Gustav Klimt, Gustav Klimt, Helene Mayer, Richard Parzer, Österreichische Galerie]Gustav KlimtOil on canvas Exhausted, the young mother has drifted off to sleep, cradling her two small children in her arms. The family is wrapped in a pile of dark blankets that keep them warm and seem to merge with the undefined space around them. Only their sleeping faces seem to shine through the darkness. Are the three sitting in a dark room, or outside, or even on the street? Gustav Klimt’s contemporaries recognized the subjects as a family living on the fringes of society. The choice of subject is unusual in Klimt’s oeuvre, as he never addressed poverty in any other painting. Nevertheless, the timeless theme of the painting seems to be one of tender maternal love.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/27315/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/140353/fullThe Kiss (Lovers)1908 (finished 1909)[Gustav Klimt, Ministerium für Kultus und Unterricht, Moderne Galerie, Wien]Gustav KlimtFigures: gold leaf, silver leaf, platinum leaf, resin oil colors on primed canvas (zinc paint). – Background: Composition gold (brass), glazed, flakes of metal leaf “The Kiss”, probably Klimt’s most famous work, was painted at the height of his Golden Period without a direct commission. It shows a couple, melting into one, at the edge of a meadow of flowers. Only the different patterning of the robes distinguishes their bodies that are enveloped in a shimmering golden halo. Klimt actually used real gold leaf, silver, and platinum in his picture. He presumably started work on it in 1907 and exhibited the painting at the Kunstschau in June the following year under the title “Lovers”. From this show, the Ministry of Art purchased it for the Modern Gallery—now the Belvedere—for a price that was high even then. In autumn 1909, a catalogue of this museum cited the work for the first time as “The Kiss”, the title by which it is world famous today.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/6678/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/118781/fullFritza Riedler1906[Gustav Klimt, Fritza Riedler, Aloys Riedler, Emilie Barbara Langer, Österreichische Galerie]Gustav KlimtOil on canvas Dignified, reserved, and majestic, Fritza Riedler (1860–1927), the wife of a wealthy mechanical engineer, sits in a chair as if enthroned. The delicate features of her pale face stand in striking contrast to her dark hair. There is not a flicker of expression on her face, not the slightest stirring to provide a glimpse of the sitter’s inner self. Gustav Klimt combines the naturalistic depiction of his model with a background dissolved into ornamentation. Even the chair is transformed into an ornament composed of wavy lines and ancient Egyptian eye motifs. This interplay between depth and an emphasis on the picture plane characterizes Klimt’s work from his so-called Golden Period. Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/2177/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/36554/fullGirlfriends (Water Serpents I)1904 (minor amendments in 1907)[Gustav Klimt, Gustav Klimt, Galerie H. O. Miethke, Karl Wittgenstein, Unbekannter Besitz, Belvedere, Wien, Galerie L. T. Neumann]Gustav Klimt Watercolour, gouache, pencil, gold, silver, platinum and brass on parchment Klimt’s aquatic beings, described by the artist as “water serpents” or “water nymphs,” seem bewitchingly detached from the real world. In dreamy, flowing movements they float above the ocean floor in the midst of golden seaweed. A glimmering fish stares out at us with a fixed gaze from the lower right of the picture. Influenced by the Symbolist art movement, the artist used these aquatic creatures to symbolize a mystical realm. Klimt created this work on parchment at the height of his Golden Period.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/3828/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/83180/fullJudith1901[Gustav Klimt, Berthe Hodler, Anton Loew, Sophie Loew-Unger, Österreichische Galerie]Gustav KlimtOil and gold leaf on canvas The biblical story of the brave Judith has often been depicted in art. Judith, a chaste widow, gets the enemy commander Holofernes drunk with divine help, and then beheads him to free her people. Gustav Klimt interprets the Old Testament heroine as an erotic femme fatale. She gazes seductively at the viewer through half-closed eyes, her lips slightly parted. Only on closer inspection do we see the decapitated head of Holofernes. Judith holds it almost tenderly, as if to push it out of the picture. In Klimt’s painting there is no room for the male aggressor. He has transformed the biblical story of resistance in a political conflict into a battle of the sexes, and Judith’s triumph into a dangerously tantalizing icon of femininity.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/3492/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/118782/fullSonja Knips1897/1898[Gustav Klimt, Sonja Knips, Österreichische Galerie]Gustav KlimtOil on canvas Calm and confident, Sonja Knips gazes back at us. A baroness by birth, she was one of Gustav Klimt’s most prominent patrons. The artist subtly composed her portrait with great sensitivity, alternating between hazy evocation and precision: Sonja Knips’s face is rendered naturalistically, while her sumptuous tulle gown dissolves in a cascade of soft brushstrokes. Leaning slightly forward, she sits on the edge of an armchair ready to rise at any moment. A red sketchbook in her right hand adds an accent of bright color. This is the first portrait that Klimt painted in a square format. It also marks the start of his rise to become one of the most sought-after portraitists of Viennese society.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/3197/rdf