Judith – Works – Sammlung Online

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The image depicts a woman dressed in an ornate garment, posed in a way that radiates confidence. Her face has a gentle expression, and she gazes directly at the viewer. The background features golden and ornamental motifs reminiscent of a decorative style. The composition is vertically oriented, and the frame is elaborately designed.

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Oberes Belvedere
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Judith
Date1901

Künstler*in Gustav Klimt (1862 Wien – 1918 Wien)

ULAN

Object typePainting
MediumOil and gold leaf on canvas
Dimensions
84 × 42 cm
SignatureBez. links unten: Gustav / Klimt; auf dem Rahmen oben: JUDITH UND / HOLOFERNES
Inventory number4737
Locations Belvedere, Upper Belvedere, 1. Floor (east), Room NO2
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.

Provenance
Exhibitions

1901 Anton Loew, Wien.
1907 Sophie Loew-Unger, Wien.
1920 Galerie Moos, Genf.
1920 Berthe Hodler, Genf
1954 Ankauf Berthe Hodler, Genf

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