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Symbolism · 1908
Gustav Klimt 1862–1918
Belvedere · Vienna
Two lovers merge into a single shimmering field of gold leaf — the rapturous summit of Klimt's 'Golden Phase'.
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Chapter 1 of 7
Vienna, nineteen oh eight. Gustav Klimt, the most celebrated and scandalous painter in the city, is at the summit of what we now call his Golden Phase. He lays real gold leaf onto the canvas, the way medieval icon-painters once gilded saints.
Two lovers kneel at the edge of a flowering meadow, dissolving into a single shimmering field of gold. It may be the most reproduced embrace ever painted.
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