Tactile Stations

180 x 180 cm 
Oil on canvas 

Without a doubt, The Kiss is Gustav Klimt's most iconic work. The seminal figure of Viennese Art Nouveau painted the masterpiece at the height of his "Golden Period." The painting portrays a couple embracing at the edge of a meadow filled with flowers. Their bodies can only be discerned by the pattern of their flowing garments, with the rectangular shapes belonging more to the man and the round ornaments to the woman. Both figures are enveloped by a shimmering halo set against a solid gold background. In fact, Klimt used genuine gold leaf, silver, and platinum in this work. 

The Artwork

150 × 160,8 cm 
Oil on canvas

The image shows three figures arranged in tandem against an undefined, dark background: a man, a woman, and an infant positioned in front of them. They are naked and huddled together with their knees raised. Their bodies are partially covered with pieces of cloth, with the child wrapped in them for warmth. The mother and child face away from the viewer, while the father, whose features are unmistakably those of Egon Schiele, gazes out from the painting. The Viennese painter was working on this picture when his pregnant wife, Edith, contracted the Spanish flu and passed away in 1918. A few days later, the artist himself died at the age of 28, leaving the painting unfinished.

The Artwork

42,5 x 26 x 24,5 cm
Brown alabaster

This portrait bust is from a series of works comprising at least fifty-five “Character Heads.” The facial expressions of these heads seem to show a range of different feelings. Some depictions appear realistic and recall familiar emotions. Others are clearly distorted and even verge on the grotesque, such as this work “Character Head” No. 6, also once described as “Beak Head”. Franz Xaver Messerschmidt’s motivation behind creating depictions that are unusual for the Late Baroque period has never been truly clarified. However, it is likely that he used his own facial expressions as a source for these sculptures.

The Artwork

16 × 12,5 cm
Wood

This small relief depicts the Fall of Man as described in the Old Testament. The presumably male artist is identified only by the initials "IP." The central figures are Adam and Eve, the first human couple in the biblical creation narrative. Adam is shown in a full frontal pose, while Eve faces him with her back to the viewer. She presents Adam with the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. The human couple is surrounded by a forest with tall trees and a rock face extending beyond the edge of the painting. Animals can be seen hiding in the branches, under the leaves, and between the trunks. The individual elements are rendered with great precision.

The Artwork