How to Read Paintings: The Kiss by Gustav Klimt

This article features in the book <a href="https://www.chrisjoneswrites.co.uk/how-to-read-paintings/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">How to Read Paintings</a>, an introduction to some of the most fascinating artworks in art history, by Christopher P Jones. <img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*CO6HYIGXlgSJul5oJw8arQ.jpeg" style="height:703px; width:700px" /> The Kiss (1907–08) by Gustav Klimt. Oil and gold leaf on canvas. Österreichische Galerie Belvedere museum, Vienna, Austria. Image source <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Kiss_-_Gustav_Klimt_-_Google_Cultural_Institute.jpg" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a> The one detail that always draws my eye in Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss is the position of the woman’s feet. They appear to be gripping the very edge of the world. What lies beyond is uncertain: a speckled golden haze that might be the night sky or the glistening spectre of a thunderstorm, or else a cliff-edge abyss. The woman’s toes are bent under so that her heels face the unknown. I suppose the reason I always go to this detail is because it seems to explain so much about the mood of the wider image. Passion teetering on the brink, lovers curled inwards and around one another, an expression of both the pleasure and terror of the embrace. <a href="https://medium.com/thinksheet/how-to-read-paintings-the-kiss-by-gustav-klimt-469c897a3713">Visit Now</a>