2/internal/media/dispatcher/160537/fullAdam and Eve1916 - 1918[Gustav Klimt, Sonja Knips, Galerie Gustav Nebehay]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/118782/fullSonja Knips1897/1898[Gustav Klimt, Sonja Knips]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