The Kiss by Gustav Klimt is one of the most recognised and reproduced paintings in the world. It is perhaps the most popular poster on student dorm walls from Beijing to Boston. Painted in Vienna around 1908, the evocative image of an unknown embracing couple has captivated viewers with its mystery, sensuality and dazzling materials ever since it was created. But just what lies behind the appeal of the painting – and just who was the artist that created it? Delving into the details of real gold, decorative designs, symbolism and simmering erotica, a close study of the painting takes us to the remarkable turn of the century Vienna when a new world was battling with the old.
DirectorAli Ray
Part of
Includes: Leonardo: From the National Gallery, London, Manet: Portraying Life, Munch 150, Vermeer and Music, Matisse, Girl with a Pearl Earring: And Other Treasures from the Mauritshuis, Vincent Van Gogh: A New Way of Seeing, The Impressionists: And the Man Who Made Them, Goya: Visions of Flesh and Blood, Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse, Renoir: Reviled and Revered, The Curious World of Hieronymus Bosch, I, Claude Monet, The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism, Michelangelo: Love and Death, Canaletto & the Art of Venice, David Hockney at the Royal Academy of Arts, Cézanne: Portraits of a Life, Degas: Passion for Perfection, Rembrandt: From the National Gallery, London and Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Young Picasso, Van Gogh & Japan, Leonardo: The Works, Lucian Freud: A Self Portrait, Easter in Art, Frida Kahlo, Sunflowers, Raphael Revealed, The Danish Collector: Delacroix to Gauguin, Pissarro: Father of Impressionism, Hopper: An American Love Story, Mary Cassatt: Painting the Modern Woman, Vermeer: The Greatest Exhibition, Tokyo Stories, Klimt & The Kiss, John Singer Sargent: Fashion and Swagger, My National Gallery, London, Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers, Dawn of Impressionism: Paris 1874
