Gustav Klimt – The Kiss

The Kiss is probably Gustav Klimt’s most famous painting: a couple wrapped in one golden cloak, melting into each other at the edge of a flowering meadow. Klimt painted it around 1907–1909, at the height of his Golden Period, and the original hangs in the Upper Belvedere in Vienna. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas, in eight square sizes from 60 x 60 to 180 x 180 cm or to your own measurement, and send you a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.

The Kiss – Gustav Klimt

What is shown?

A man and a woman at the edge of a meadow strewn with flowers. He bends towards her, holding her face in both hands and kissing her cheek. She kneels with her eyes closed, one arm around his neck, the other hand resting on his. Both are wrapped in the same golden cloak, so their bodies barely separate: the Belvedere notes that only the different patterning of their robes tells them apart.

His cloak is covered in black, white and grey rectangles; her dress in circles and flowers of red, blue and violet. The meadow beneath them stops abruptly, and her feet reach right to its edge. The background has no space and no horizon: it is an even gold surface scattered with countless small flakes of metal, so the couple floats as if on an old icon.

Why is there so much gold in it?

The Kiss belongs to the peak of Klimt’s Golden Period, when he built real metals into his paintings. His father was a gold engraver, so Klimt knew metalwork from childhood, and the Byzantine mosaics of Ravenna made a deep impression on him. In the figures he used gold, silver and platinum leaf together with oil colours; the background he covered in thin brass leaf, glazed it with a dark varnish and scattered fine flakes of metal leaf into it.

That layering gives the gold its depth, warm in places and almost brown in others, while the faces and hands stay soft, in natural skin tones. The contrast between living bodies and hard metal is what catches the eye first.

What does The Kiss mean?

The painting tells no story; it shows the moment in which two people become one. The rectangles on the man’s cloak are usually read as the masculine, the circles and flowers on the woman as the feminine, and the golden cloak around them both as the love that joins them. Many viewers also notice that the woman kneels right at the edge of the meadow and see in that the fragility of so perfect a moment.

The Belvedere points out that the symbolic character of the scene argues against identifying the couple with real people. It is a painting of love rather than a portrait of two people.

How did it get its name and reach the Belvedere?

Klimt probably began it in 1907 and painted it without a direct commission. He first showed it in June 1908 at the Kunstschau Wien, open from 1 June to 15 November, under the title Liebespaar, Lovers.

On 10 July 1908 the committee of Vienna’s Modern Gallery decided to buy it, with the ministry paying for the purchase. The Modern Gallery is today’s Belvedere. In the autumn of 1909 the museum’s catalogue listed it for the first time as The Kiss, the name by which the whole world knows it today.

The whole painting or the detail – which to choose?

We offer two versions of this subject. This page is the whole painting: the couple, the golden cloak, the flowering meadow and the feet at its edge, square like the original. The other is The Kiss (detail), a close crop showing only the two heads, the hands and the upper part of the cloaks, with no meadow and no feet.

For the whole scene, choose this one. If your wall is smaller, or it is the kiss itself that draws you, the detail is the more intimate choice, since the faces are much larger at the same size. From the same Golden Period we also paint Tree of Life, Judith I and Danae.

How is our hand-painted version made?

The video at the top of the page shows our painting taking shape, from the first fine drawing on white canvas to the finished, framed canvas on an easel in the workshop. The painter draws the figures, lays in the cloaks and the background, then the meadow, and only at the end the rectangles and circles of the robes with a fine brush.

The gold in our painting is not printed, and it is not leaf as in the original. We use gold paint, which the painter applies by hand with a brush, layer by layer, and then scatters small gold dots across the background, as Klimt scattered flakes across his.

The first photograph shows the finished painting in a gold frame on an easel, exactly as you receive it. The second photograph shows it from the side in our framing workshop, among the moulding samples. In the third photograph you see a close-up of a framed corner, where the gold dots on the background are clearly visible. The fourth photograph is a close-up of the flowers on the woman’s dress and the hands, with the weave of the canvas showing through the paint. The fifth photograph is a visualisation of the painting above a grey sofa, to help you choose a size.

Every painting is a hand-painted copy made for your order, so no two are ever quite the same. A printed oil painting reproduction cannot show the relief of the brushstrokes and the shine of the gold paint that you see in the third and fourth photographs.

Which size for which wall?

Short answer: 120 x 120 cm above a sofa or a double bed, 80 x 80 cm above a chest of drawers or in a smaller room, and 150 x 150 cm for a large empty wall. The square format is an advantage here: above a bed or a sofa it sits calmly and balanced, because it fills the space evenly in both directions.

There are eight sizes: 60 x 60, 70 x 70, 80 x 80, 90 x 90, 100 x 100, 120 x 120, 150 x 150 and 180 x 180 cm. The smallest suit a hallway or a study, the largest a staircase or a high room. The 180 x 180 cm size is the same as the original in the Belvedere, so on your wall it works just as it does in Vienna. A painting for the living room should take up about two thirds of the width of the furniture below it; above a sofa 200 cm wide, that is 120 to 150 cm.

Hang it with the centre of the canvas about 150 cm above the floor, and 20 to 30 cm above a sofa or a headboard.

Custom size, stretcher and frame

If none of the eight sizes fits your wall, we paint it to measure. We recommend keeping it square, otherwise the couple gets squeezed or stretched. Send us the width and height you want and we will quote a price and a lead time. Every painting we make is stretched over a wooden stretcher 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.

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. Our returns policy applies to every order.

Every other Klimt work we paint is in the Gustav Klimt gallery, and there is more about the painting itself in our article on The Kiss.

Frequently asked questions

Where does the original of The Kiss hang – in the Upper or the Lower Belvedere?

In the Upper Belvedere in Vienna, where the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere holds it under inventory number 912. It has been in the collection since 1908, when the Modern Gallery of the time bought it. At first it hung in the Lower Belvedere, where the Modern Gallery was housed from 1903.

Who are the lovers in The Kiss?

Nobody knows for certain. It is often suggested that they are Klimt and his life companion Emilie Flöge, and in some preparatory drawings the man has a full beard. The Belvedere, however, writes that the question cannot be clearly decided.

When did Klimt paint The Kiss?

The Belvedere dates it to around 1907–1909: Klimt probably began it in 1907 and first exhibited it in June 1908. The name The Kiss first appears in the museum catalogue in the autumn of 1909. There is more on the painting’s history on Wikipedia.

Is The Kiss Klimt’s most famous painting, and is it for sale?

The Belvedere calls it probably Klimt’s most famous work. It is not for sale: it belongs to the museum, so it has no market price. What we can state is the price of our hand-painted version, shown on this page for the size you choose.

Is the gold on your copy of The Kiss real gold?

No. In the original Klimt used real gold, silver and platinum leaf; we paint with gold paint, which the painter applies by hand with a brush, layer by layer. So the whole canvas painting, gold included, is painted by hand.

What do the patterns in The Kiss mean?

The patterns set the man and the woman apart. His cloak is covered in black, white and grey rectangles, upright and hard-edged; her dress is full of circles and flowers in warm colours. Most readings see the masculine in the rectangles and the feminine in the circles and flowers. The gold field that wraps them in one cloak joins the two into a single shape.

Why is the man’s face hidden in The Kiss, and why does the woman kneel at the edge of the meadow?

Because the painting is turned towards her: hers is the only face we see in full, while of the man we see only dark hair with a wreath and part of his cheek. Klimt often painted men faceless or from behind, as in Fulfillment from the Stoclet Frieze. The meadow ends abruptly under her feet, and most readings see that edge as a precipice, the end of the world or the fragility of the moment.

What style is The Kiss?

The Kiss belongs to the Vienna Secession, Austria’s version of Art Nouveau, and is the high point of Klimt’s Golden Period. The Secession loved flat ornament, gold and the meeting of painting with craft. Part of the inspiration for the gold came in 1903 in Ravenna, where Klimt saw the Byzantine mosaics with their gold grounds, which is why the couple floats before the gold like saints in a mosaic.

Can I order The Kiss at the original size, 180 x 180 cm?

Yes. 180 x 180 cm is our largest size and the same as the original in the Belvedere. It needs a wall at least about 2.5 m wide, for example above a large sofa or a double bed, with some air left above it. For a smaller wall there are 150 x 150, 120 x 120 and 100 x 100 cm and smaller sizes, and we also paint to measure.

Is The Kiss a good wedding or anniversary present?

Yes, The Kiss is a painting about love, which makes it a natural choice for a wedding or an anniversary. Because we paint it to order in 15 to 45 days, order in good time; before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work to approve. If you are unsure which size suits the couple’s wall, a wall art voucher lets them choose the size and the subject themselves.

• Subject: a couple in a golden cloak at the edge of a flowering meadow.
• Original: c. 1907–1909, 180 x 180 cm, Upper Belvedere, Vienna.
• Ours: a Klimt reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas with gold paint, in eight sizes or made to measure.
• Worth knowing: you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.