Description
Sitting Nude Man Turned to the Left is a study of a nude young man that Gustav Klimt painted in 1883, as a student at the School of Arts and Crafts in Vienna: the model sits on two wooden crates, turned to the left, head bowed and arms hanging between his knees, in warm light against a dark olive-brown wall. The original measures 46 x 37 cm and belongs to the Leopold Museum in Vienna. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas as an enlargement, in four upright sizes from 50 x 60 to 80 x 100 cm or to your own measurement, and send you a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.
| Title: | Sitting Nude Man Turned to the Left |
| Other titles: | Sitzender männlicher Akt · Nudo maschile seduto |
| Painter: | Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) |
| Year painted: | 1883 |
| Original size: | 46 cm x 37 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Historicism, academic nude study |
| Located at: | Leopold Museum, Vienna |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, enlarged, four upright sizes or made to measure |
Sitting Nude Man Turned to the Left – Gustav Klimt
What does the painting show?
Sitting Nude Man Turned to the Left shows a slim young man with short dark hair, seated on two plain wooden crates in a painter’s studio. He is fully nude and turned to the left. His head is bowed and his eyes are lowered; his arms hang forward between his knees. His left leg stretches out to the left, his right leg reaches back to the right, and his bare feet rest on a brown floor.
Behind him there is nothing but a dark olive-brown studio wall. Warm light falls on his back and shoulders and models the body in soft steps from light into shadow. There is no story, no costume and no setting – only a model holding a pose and a young painter learning to render the human body. Small, at the lower right, Klimt signed the canvas and wrote the date.
Why does the date on this study matter?
According to the Leopold Museum, four similar nude studies are known from Klimt’s student years at the School of Arts and Crafts in Vienna: three of male models and one of a female model. This painting stands out among them because of a small detail at the lower right: Klimt dated it himself. The museum therefore uses it as the reference point for dating the other studies of the group.
Painted in 1883, when Klimt was about twenty, it is an early, securely dated work by the painter who more than twenty years later made The Kiss – and it shows where that road began, with the patient study of a living model.
Why did the young Klimt paint nudes?
Painting the nude from a living model was a central part of academic art training in the nineteenth century. A student learned anatomy, proportion and the way light turns over the form of a body – knowledge he needed for every later allegory, mural or portrait.
It is a frank, unidealised study: not a mythological hero and not an erotic subject, but a working model in a quiet pose. What stays with you is the mood – the bowed head, the lowered eyes, the loosely hanging arms – and the warm light on the skin against the dark wall. The calm, inward pose gives the work a stillness that suits a room where you read, work or think.
Where is the original, and what came next?
The original belongs to the Leopold Museum in Vienna; the museum’s collection lists it as oil on canvas, 46 x 37 cm, dated 1883, and at the time of writing as on display; check the museum’s website before a visit.
1883 was a turning point for Klimt. Around the time he painted this study, he finished his studies and, with his brother Ernst Klimt and his fellow student Franz Matsch, formed the Künstler-Compagnie. The three opened their own studio and painted wall and ceiling decorations in a Historicist style.
Sitting Nude Man Turned to the Left among Klimt’s works
In our gallery several works stand close to this study. Idyll and Fable come from the same early years and show how Klimt used nude figures in allegorical compositions soon after his training. Forest Floor is another small study from his student years. And The Three Ages of Woman returns to the nude body more than twenty years later, in the very different language of the Vienna Secession. From the same year comes Male Nude in the Belvedere, a standing model with one arm raised, painted at the same school.
Choose Sitting Nude Man Turned to the Left if you want an academic figure study in warm earth tones, quiet and without ornament; if a full allegorical scene appeals to you more, Idyll or Fable suits you better. More about Klimt’s life is on Wikipedia’s Klimt page.
How do we paint Sitting Nude Man by hand?
Because the original is small, the painter first transfers its proportions to the larger canvas with a grid, so that the line of the back, the angle of the bowed head and the position of the legs and the crates sit exactly where Klimt placed them. Then the dark olive-brown wall and the brown floor go on in thin layers, followed by the body in warm skin tones, built up from shadow to light.
The most careful work goes into the skin: the soft transitions on the back and shoulders where the light falls, the cooler shadows under the arms and along the legs. A printed oil painting reproduction would flatten those transitions; painted by hand in layers, the body keeps its volume and the light seems to rest on the skin. Every painting is a hand-painted copy made for your order, so no two are quite alike.
There is no gold in this study, and none in our version: we use oil colours only, as Klimt did.
Which size for which wall?
In short: 50 x 60 or 63 x 79 cm for a study, a hallway or a narrow wall beside a bookcase; 70 x 90 cm above a desk or a chest of drawers, or in a library; and 80 x 100 cm for a studio, a larger wall or a collector’s wall. 80 x 100 cm is the largest size in our shop; a larger one can be ordered to measure.
The original is only 46 cm high and 37 cm wide, so every one of these sizes is an enlargement: even 50 x 60 cm is larger than Klimt’s canvas, and at 80 x 100 cm the figure is a little more than twice its original size. The proportion of the original is very close to 4:5, which is exactly the proportion of 80 x 100 cm; 63 x 79 cm is almost the same, while 50 x 60 cm is slightly wider and 70 x 90 cm slightly narrower.
As a painting for the living room, 80 x 100 cm above a sofa or a sideboard gives the figure a calm presence. Hang it with the centre of the canvas about 150 to 160 cm above the floor; over furniture, leave 20 to 30 cm between the top of the furniture and the lower edge of the canvas. Because the background is dark, light from the side or a small lamp above it brings out the warm light on the back.
Custom size, stretcher and frame
If none of the four sizes fits your wall, or you would like it larger than 80 x 100 cm, we paint it to measure; keep the upright 4:5 proportion, or close to it, so the figure and the crates stay where Klimt put them. Send us the width and height you want and we will quote the price and delivery time. Every painting we make is stretched on a wooden stretcher frame and ready to hang.
For the moulding, use our 3D application: it shows every one of our frame profiles on this subject, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood before deciding – the application is for choosing the frame only. If you would like to see how the painting will look on your own wall, that is our separate room placement service. A dark wood or old-gold frame suits the warm browns and the nineteenth-century academic character of the study; a thin black frame gives it a more modern look.
Delivery and guarantee
Every painting is made to order in our studio in Slovenia, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size you choose. We ship it stretched and protected for transport, framed if you chose a frame, across the EU with no customs. Before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work to approve; if anything is not right, we correct it while the canvas is still in our workshop. Our returns policy applies to every order.
If it is a gift and you are not sure of the size, there is our gift voucher. More of Klimt’s work is in our Gustav Klimt gallery, and more about the painter in our article 10 interesting facts about Gustav Klimt.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original Sitting Nude Man by Klimt?
The original is in the Leopold Museum in Vienna, which lists it in its online collection as oil on canvas, 46 x 37 cm, painted in 1883. Because works are sometimes moved or lent, check the museum’s website before you visit. Our versions are hand-painted enlargements of it.
When did Klimt paint Sitting Nude Man Turned to the Left?
Klimt painted it in 1883 and dated it himself at the lower right. He was about twenty and close to the end of his studies at the School of Arts and Crafts. Shortly afterwards he formed the Künstler-Compagnie with his brother Ernst and Franz Matsch and began painting wall and ceiling decorations in a Historicist style.
What does Klimt’s Sitting Nude Man show?
It shows a slim young man with short dark hair, nude, sitting on two wooden crates and turned to the left. His head is bowed, his eyes are lowered and his arms hang between his knees; one leg stretches out to the left, the other reaches back. Warm light falls on his back and shoulders against a dark olive-brown wall.
How big is the original Sitting Nude Man?
The original is 46 cm high and 37 cm wide, a modest canvas for a student study. All our sizes, from 50 x 60 to 80 x 100 cm, are therefore enlargements painted by hand. The 80 x 100 cm size has very nearly the proportion of the original and is the largest in our shop; larger sizes are made to measure.
Why is the Sitting Nude Man the key to dating Klimt’s early nude studies?
Because Klimt dated it himself. The Leopold Museum knows four similar nude studies from his years at the School of Arts and Crafts – three of male models and one of a female model – and this one carries Klimt’s own date, 1883. It therefore serves as the reference point for dating the others in the group.
Which size of Sitting Nude Man suits my wall?
For a study, a hallway or a narrow wall, 50 x 60 or 63 x 79 cm works well. Above a desk or a chest of drawers choose 70 x 90 cm, and for a larger wall, a studio or the space above a sofa 80 x 100 cm, the largest size in our shop. Every size is an enlargement of the 46 x 37 cm original.
Which room suits the Sitting Nude Man?
It suits a studio, a study, a library, a hallway or a collector’s wall – rooms where a quiet figure study can be looked at calmly. As a canvas painting it goes well with natural wood, books, leather and warm or dark walls. Because the background is dark, give it some light from the side so the warm light on the back comes forward.
Can the Sitting Nude Man be painted larger than 80 x 100 cm?
Yes, as a made-to-measure order. 80 x 100 cm is the largest size in our shop, but if your wall needs more, send us the width and height you want and we will quote the price and delivery time. Stay close to the 4:5 proportion of the original, so the figure and the crates stay where Klimt placed them.
Is the Sitting Nude Man a good gift?
It can be a fitting gift for someone who draws or paints from life, studies art or collects early Klimt, because it shows the painter at the start of his career, learning from a living model. A nude is a personal choice, so choose it for someone whose taste you know – or give a voucher and let the recipient decide.
- Subject: a nude young man seated on two wooden crates, turned to the left, head bowed, in warm light against a dark wall.
- Original: 1883, oil on canvas, 46 x 37 cm, Leopold Museum, Vienna.
- Our version: a Klimt reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas as an enlargement, in four upright sizes up to 80 x 100 cm or made to measure.
- Good to know: before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval.
