Gustav Klimt · Vienna · 1895
Love
A couple approaches in a dark garden. Flowers frame the scene; faces of all ages appear in the mist. Before gold, Klimt already makes love a force subject to time.
Immediate response
Why does this table matter?
Love is a small oil on canvas painted by Gustav Klimt in 1895 to serve as a model for plate n° 46 d'Allegories, New Series, published by Gerlach & Schenk. The painting precedes the founding of the Viennese Secession in 1897 and the famous Golden Period.
The bodies are still modeled with academic realism, but the composition is already profoundly modern: flattened flowers at the edges, twilight space, visionary faces and confrontation of desire with the ages of life. Decoration is no longer an entourage; it begins to produce meaning.
An image intended to circulate
A painting designed for a series of allegories
Love was not born as a portrait commission or a private scene. Klimt was to provide a contemporary composition for Allegories, New Series', modern extension of a vast repertoire of allegories and emblems published in Vienna.
The challenge is to make an abstract idea immediately readable. Klimt therefore places at the center a couple ready to kiss, but refuses simple sentimental illustration. Flowery margins and higher apparitions introduce childhood, youth, old age and the threat of time.
Plate of "Allegories, New Series"
The painted original served as a model for a printed reproduction. This destination explains the light silhouette, vertical format and the importance of a decorative frame capable of remaining readable in a publication.
Chronological marker: in 1895, Klimt was still working in the world of decorative and academic commissions. However, the psychological fog and the floral surface already announce the symbolist painter.
Visual reading
Six zones that build Love
The male profile
The man advances his face and guides the movement. His dark coat ties him to the bottom, as if emerging from the night.
The female neck
The woman presents herself from behind. The light neck, cheek and hair concentrate the light without providing a complete portrait.
The lip space
The kiss is not yet accomplished. This short distance creates the main tension: Klimt paints the contact less than its imminence.
The flower frame
The flowers rise on the sides and become denser at the bottom. They give desire a season, growth and limit.
The mist
It separates the couple from the ordinary world while opening another space, mental or visionary, where faces float.
The looks from above
Child, young figures and old man transform the moment of love into a scene observed by time itself.
Preparatory drawings
The child and the old man are not extras
Studies preserved by the Albertina confirm that Klimt carefully prepared the faces of the upper register. The contrast is voluntary: serious dreamer of the child, almost disturbing presence of the old man. They frame love by its two temporal horizons.
The child
The round outline, fixed eyes and braided hairstyle give an unexpected gravity. Childhood appears as a conscious beginning, not as a simple charming setting.
The old man
The skull, off-center eyes and hollow features produce a harsh counterpoint. The gentleness of the couple responds to the awareness of the end.
Before gold
Why Love is already symbolist
A real moment, a mental space
The couple's faces and hands remain naturalistic, but the mist dissolves any specific place. The scene takes place as much in consciousness as in a garden.
An idea rather than an anecdote
Neither the identity of the couple nor what precedes the rapprochement is known. The characters serve as a general meditation on love and the ages.
Nature as a sign
Flowers do not document a botanical garden. They signify blossoming, fragile beauty and the seasonal nature of desire.
The painting doesn't just say "they love each other." He asks what happens to this moment when it is looked at from childhood and old age.L’Amour reading key
Material and color
A painting still without a gold background
The palette mixes browns, grays, muffled greens and luminous skin tones. Chiaroscuro shapes the faces; the dress, coat and background remain descriptive. Klimt has not yet transformed the garment into a geometric mosaic as in The Kiss.
But the organization of the surface announces what happens next. The flowers form an almost textile border, the couple is compressed in a narrow vertical plane and the floating appearances break the classic depth. The naturalism of the center and the decoration of the margins begin to merge.
Which still belongs to the 1890s
Precise modeling, realistic skin, readable draping, living room atmosphere and composition inherited from academic allegory.
Which announces the future Klimt
Floral surface, suspended sensuality, symbolic roles, frontality and conflict between the living body and ornament.
Three steps
From Love to Kiss
Symbol asserts itself
The figure becomes frontal and sovereign. Metallic and mythological ornament takes center stage.
The body becomes manifest
The frontal nude, text and decorative setting transform the allegory into a challenge to the Viennese public.
Gold absorbs the world
The couple is no longer surrounded by flowers: they rest on them and almost disappear into an envelope of gold and patterns.
Essential continuity: between 1895 and 1908, Klimt did not simply change his palette. It gradually shifts the direction of the modeling of bodies towards the expressive power of the surface.
Timeline
Love in Klimt's transformation
Klimt completed sets for the Kunsthistorisches Museum with his brother Ernst and Franz Matsch. The language remains largely academic.
He paints Love for Allegories, New Series. The realistic couple is crossed by a symbolist vision of the ages.
Klimt becomes one of the founders and first president of the Viennese Secession.
Pallas Athena then Nuda Veritas radicalize the frontality, the symbol and the place of the frame.
The City of Vienna acquires several original models from the allegory series, including Love.
The Kiss carries the theme of the couple in the completed language of the golden period.
Discreet detail
What does the signature say?
Bottom right, Klimt signs in capitals: GVSTAV · KLIMT · MDCCCVC. The Latinizing form of "Gustav" and the date in Roman numerals reinforce the solemn character of an allegory intended for scholarly publication.
MDCCCVC corresponds to 1895 in this inscription. The signature does not yet resemble the freer initials associated with certain late works.
1895 inscribed in the work
A material clue which confirms the dating given by the Wien Museum.
Work and real location
Where to see Klimt's Love?
Wien Museum, Vienna
The painting belongs to the collection of the Wien Museum. Its official sheet documents the date, technique, dimensions, editorial destination and signature. As the hanging may change, consult the current presentation before the visit.
Shop selection
From Symbolism to the Golden Period
Love is offered in full composition and in detail. The selection also allows us to follow Klimt's evolution towards Pallas Athena, Nuda Veritas and The Kiss.
Frequently asked questions
Klimt's Love in 12 responses
When did Klimt paint Love?
The painting is dated 1895, a date also written in Roman numerals in the signature.
Where is Gustav Klimt's Love?
It belongs to the Wien Museum in Vienna, under inventory number 25005.
What are its dimensions?
The Wien Museum sheet indicates 62.5 × 46.5 cm for the painted image.
Why was the painting made?
It served as a model for plate n° 46 d'Allegories, New Series, editorial series published by Gerlach & Schenk.
Who is the couple represented?
The models are not identified with certainty. Above all, they embody an allegory of love.
Are the two kissing?
Their faces are very close, but the space between the lips remains visible. Klimt represents the imminence of the kiss.
What do flowers mean?
They can evoke hatching and fragile beauty. Above all, they frame the scene and transform nature into a decorative surface.
Who are the faces in the mist?
Albertina studies notably identify a child and an old man. With young faces, they refer to the ages of life.
Does Love belong to the golden period?
No. It dates from 1895, more than a decade before The Kiss. Gold does not yet organize the composition.
Why is the work symbolist?
Because it goes beyond the romantic anecdote to associate the couple with time, ages, nature and a visionary atmosphere.
What does this have to do with The Kiss?
The two works place a couple at the heart of a floral universe. In Love, bodies remain realistic; in The Kiss, gold and patterns almost absorb them.
What format should I choose for a reproduction?
The vertical format respects the original organization. A narrow detail places more emphasis on the couple, while the entire work retains the faces and floral setting.
Sources and credits
To check and deepen
Main sources: Wien Museum - Love sheet; Albertina - studies for the allegory Love; Belvedere - Klimt and Symbolism.
Klimt works reproduced from the public domain via Wikimedia Commons. Studies of the Child and the Old Man: Albertina via Google Arts & Culture. Photo from the Wien Museum in 2024: Bwag, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Images of reproductions: Alpha Reproduction catalog.
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