Death and life

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Death and Life (Gustav Klimt)
Death and life
Gustav Klimt , 1915
Oil on canvas
178 x 198 cm
“The Art” XXVII

Death and Life is the name of an oil painting by Gustav Klimt , on which he painted in 1910/1911 and 1915/1916. The focus of the 180.8 × 200.6 cm picture is the female body. Klimt began preliminary studies for the painting in 1908; it is counted in its golden phase . In 1911, at the international art exhibition in Rome , he received first prize, which was shared with nine other artists, for the picture exhibited in the Austrian pavilion, which at the time was entitled "Fear of Death" . In 1912 he exhibited the painting at an art exhibition in Dresden ; at that time it already had the current title.

Further exhibitions of the picture took place in 1913 in Budapest and Mannheim , 1914 in Prague , 1916 in Berlin , 1917 in Stockholm , 1917/1918 in Copenhagen , 1918 in Zurich and from 1923 on several times in Vienna as well as in 1958 in Venice and 1965 in New York and London instead.

In 1915, after the first five exhibitions of the picture, Klimt made changes to the painting. He changed the background from gold to gray and added some mosaics. The work is classified as Art Nouveau and is now in the Leopold Museum in the MuseumsQuartier (MQ) in Vienna .

description

The subject of life and death was a central theme for Klimt as well as for Edvard Munch and Egon Schiele . In contrast to Schiele, hope prevails with Klimt. Death, a menacing grim reaper , is only vaguely visualized. People are represented in all ages. They seem to be sleeping and ignoring death. They also take up a much larger space in the picture.

The painting has been described and interpreted by numerous experts, including Tobias G. Natter . A dossier on the picture was created by Michael Wladika in 2016 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Oskar Pollak: The International Art Exhibition in Rome 1911. In Zeitschrift für die bildende Kunst , Verlag EA Seemann Leipzig Vol. 23 1911/12 p. 293 (Online https://www.digizeitschriften.de/dms/img/?PID= PPN523137710_0046 )
  2. ↑ Kunstchronik: Wochenschrift für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe NF 23, 1912 p. 110, Verlag EA Seemann, Leipzig (Online https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/kunstchronik1912/0004/image ); S. Hutchinson Harris: The art of H. Anglada-Camarasa, a study in modern art. The Leicester Galleries, London 1929 p. 20; Francesc Fontbona, Francesc Miralles: Anglada-Camarasa . Polígrafa, Barcelona 1981, p. 108 ISBN 978-84-343-0335-5
  3. ↑ Gustav Klimt, Death and Life . Leopold Museum. Retrieved April 7, 2013.
  4. ↑ Gustav Klimt | Major works of the collection | Collection Leopold | Leopold Museum. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Klimt, Death and Life. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Michael Wladika: Dossier of the Federal Chancellery and the Leopold Museum on the painting, dated April 13, 2016

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