“Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I”

“The Kiss”

Adele Bloch-Bauer is being devoured by golden swirls, her head, shoulders and arms a brief stretch of dark-haired, red-lipped, pale-skinned respite amidst her insanely gaudy surroundings. Her world is a glowing masterpiece for her to wear around her. Of the same general time, 1907-8, “The Kiss” is one of Klimts most popular paintings. The painting is the “True Happiness” and “Heavenly Choir” of the earlier “Beethoven Frieze,” without any of its more sinister context—indeed, entirely without even the air of sensuality or lust that usually accompanies Klimt’s work. “The Kiss” is quite simply a glorious, idyllic love-romp worked in shades of gold.