For those of you that are not aware, Vienna (and most of
the world) is currently celebrating the 150th birthday of Gustav Klimt. A healthy plethora of exhibits of
original artwork have cropped up since January to honor Vienna’s home-grown
painter and many have extended their exhibition closings to January 2013. There’s even a Gustav Klimt: The Musical floating around at the KünstlerhausWien, for those that don’t do art so much as they do theater.
Even
were it Klimt off-season, Vienna would be scattered with Klimt-residue in the
form of kitschy this-and-that hanging from gift-shop windows. It’s like the spirit of the man will never
really leave – you can purchase prints of TheKiss or Adele Bloch-Bauer adorning
handbags, scarves, novelty pins, and refrigerator magnets nearly anywhere you
go.
The
golden sheen of Kilmt’s work hangs over Vienna, and it was high time I went to
actually see one of his works in the museum.
Tis the season, after all.
I elected to go to the
Kunsthistorisches Museum, as my school provides a discounted year-pass that gets me
entrance and it’s within walking distance from my house. While they do not fool you into thinking that
they have one of the world-famous paintings that defined Klimt’s style to the
world, they do have something entirely their own – a series of wall paintings
that a 28-year-old Klimt himself did to decorate the main entry staircase.
The
story of how he came to this assignment is actually a little sad. He wasn’t the first pick of the museum,
no. The artist that was originally commissioned
to do the work died after finishing about 50% of the entire task. Klimt, accompanied by a few other artists
from an art organization of his, stepped in.
The
Kunsthistorisches Museum erected a large scaffolding in the entryway which upon
climbing, allows the museum-goer a close-up view of Klimt’s early works. Walking in and looking up, I became doubtful
that his work would even be noticed by the casual observer were the scaffolding
and big, bold “KLIMT” signs weren’t
so blatant. But, because stairs are
there and we’re always inclined to ascend, one goes right up to be nose-to-nose
with the young painter.
Because it’s the entryway to an
art museum, the overwhelming theme of the staircase is that of ‘art through the
ages’. While this entire painting was
completed in 1891 with the Klimt canvases, it seems to assume an interesting
complete history of art and time, represented by some painters that would later
become renowned for their own work. The
section-of-interest, the Klimts, rendered human figures as art movements
starting with Ancient Egyptian art.
While these paintings are
nowhere near the fame and notoriety that his later works would achieve, I
noticed that many themes would echo hints of his later style. The erotic nudity of the female figure, the
gold leaf halos around religious beings, the influence of fabric patterns
draped around the body; all of these elements were apparent.
However, I felt a little guilty
getting nose-to-nose with some of these paintings. How often had tourists passed through this
museum, audio guide pressed hard to left ear, getting to the ‘real’ exhibits
full of 16th and 17th century art? How often had these gold-leafed archways
accompanied by gold-leafed figures been simply passed by? Really seeing
them, not just as a part of the museum, but as a point-of-interest in the
development of Vienna’s favorite son affords some kind of fascination, like
sharing a secret with an old friend.
The season of Klimt is soon to
end in Vienna, but here it’s always the season to wear a Klimt-patterned scarf
or handbag. I suppose that could be just
as easily passed by, though.
Sorry, no pictures in this post. Will make up for it next time!
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