Klimt’s most famous painting has remained popular as print and poster to this day. It is a celebration of love and the joyous loss of self in the moment of passion. The two figures almost lose their individual forms and are united by the glowing halo of the golden cape.
The male is decorated with solid masculine rectangular blocks, the woman with sensual circular shapes evocative of flowers. They wear garlands in their hair, perhaps a classical reference, and flora is abundant in the foreground symbolising fertility and linking to the circular motif on the woman's robe. The figures seem to levitate against the top of the square composition.
As well as strong Classical, Baroque, Pre-Raphaelite and Decadent influences, a reference to C19th Japanese prints is obvious here. Again, we can also read magical symbolism. The square of the canvas, and repeated in the man's robe, along with the colour brown represent the element of earth, the physical realm, from which the two kissers seem to be escaping from… almost.
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