Klimt | The Kiss
Klimt | The Kiss
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- 100% hand-painted oil on canvas
- Delivered Framed & Ready to Hang!
- We stretch (Gallery Wrap) every canvas
- Hanging wire is attached to the back
- 100% Money Back Guarantee · Australian Owned
- Any questions? Please call us on 1300 90 21 53
About The Kiss by Gustav Klimt
Klimt painted The Kiss in 1907–08, at the height of what is now called his Golden Period, and it remains the most celebrated work of the Vienna Secession. Two figures kneel on a flowering meadow at the edge of a gold void, wrapped together in a single robe.
Klimt had trained alongside his father, a gold engraver, and had recently travelled to Ravenna, where the Byzantine mosaics of San Vitale made a lasting impression. Both show here. The robe is divided by pattern into two halves — hard black-and-white rectangles for the man, soft concentric circles and flowers for the woman — so that the figures read simultaneously as one shape and two people.
Only the hands, faces and feet are rendered naturalistically. Everything else is ornament. The canvas is square, a little over a metre and a half on each side.
The Kiss at a glance
- Artist: Gustav Klimt (1862–1918)
- Painted: 1907–1908, Vienna
- Movement: Vienna Secession / Art Nouveau — Klimt's Golden Period
- Original: Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna
- Medium: Oil and gold leaf on canvas, 180 × 180 cm
Common questions about The Kiss
Where is The Kiss by Klimt?
The Upper Belvedere in Vienna, where it has hung since 1908. The Austrian state bought it straight from the exhibition it debuted in, before that exhibition had even closed, and the painting has never left the city since.
When did Klimt paint The Kiss?
1907–1908, during his Golden Period — the years when he worked gold leaf directly into the surface of his canvases.
What does The Kiss mean?
There is no settled reading. It is most often taken as an image of love and union — two figures merged into a single golden shape. Many believe the couple to be Klimt and his lifelong companion Emilie Flöge, though he never confirmed it. Others read the picture through its Byzantine and mosaic influences, as something closer to a devotional icon than a portrait.
Is The Kiss actually romantic?
Less straightforwardly than it first appears, which is part of why it endures. The woman's eyes are closed and her face is turned away rather than towards him; her hand curls with visible tension; and the pair kneel right at the edge of the flowering ground, with nothing beyond it. Read one way it is rapture. Read another it is precarious. Klimt left both available.
How much is The Kiss worth?
It is owned by the Belvedere and is not for sale at any price. The Austrian state paid 25,000 crowns for it in 1908. For scale, the highest price paid for a Klimt at auction is around £85 million, for Lady with a Fan in 2023 — and The Kiss is considered incomparably more important.
Own a hand-painted The Kiss
This is not a print. Every painting we sell is reproduced in oils on canvas, by hand, by professional artists — no giclée, no computer-generated technique.
It matters here because The Kiss is almost entirely surface. The picture is a field of ornament — spirals, rectangles, flowers — worked in metallic tones that catch and throw light as you move past them. Printing renders all of that as flat yellow ink on paper, which is the one thing gold is not. Painted by hand in oils, the ornament regains its depth and the surface behaves the way the picture depends on.
- A range of sizes — choose yours above. The original is square, and the composition sits best in a square or near-square format.
- Framed and ready to hang, gallery wrap, or rolled canvas if you would rather frame it yourself.
- 30-day money-back guarantee, no questions.
- Free delivery Australia-wide. Australian owned and operated, with a local contact you can actually reach.
Framing Options: You have 3 choices
Option 1. Choose an outer frame - see images below.
You only need to choose one and the painting will be sent to you framed and ready to hang.
* Below is an example of a customer who chose the Gold Ornate frame
Option 2: Choose a Gallery Wrap Stretched Painting.
If you want the frameless modern gallery wrap look then you only need to choose Stretched Gallery Wrap from the finish option dropdown.
You receive your stretched gallery wrap painting ready to hang - with a hanging wire attached behind.
The back of the Stretched Gallery Wrap looks like the image below - it has a hanging wire!
Option 3: Choose Canvas Only if you want to frame the painting yourself.
Your painting will be sent to you in an art tube - you can then frame it yourself or take it to your local framer.
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