Gustav Klimt · 1895 · Belvedere
Portrait of Josef Lewinsky: the Burgtheater and the official commission
An actor almost engulfed in darkness, a role as Goethe and a frame loaded with masks. In 1895, Klimt transformed an editorial commission devoted to Viennese theater into a threshold towards symbolism.
Direct response
Is this portrait an official order?
Yes, but not in the sense of a state portrait intended for a state hall. There Gesellschaft für Vervielfältigende Kunst, or Society for the Art of Reproduction, commissioned Klimt in 1894 for the image of a famous actor from the former Hofburgtheater. The work is to be reproduced in a luxurious historical publication devoted to Viennese theater.
Klimt chooses Josef Lewinsky and represents him as Carlos in Clavigo from Goethe. The commission therefore fixes three elements: an artist, a personality from the Burgtheater and a recognizable role. The painter retains this framework, then expands it. To the actor's dark portrait, he adds branches, an antique tripod, smoke, masks and figures that connect the Viennese scene to the Dionysian origin of the theater.
The result is at once document, psychological portrait, role image and manifesto. Where other illustrations in the publication adopt a historical style in gray, Klimt offers a modern, colorful and symbolic work.
A prestigious actor
Lewinsky played at the Burgtheater for almost half a century and performed around three hundred roles.
Carlos in Clavigo
A lucid and disturbing advisor, Carlos becomes the emblem of the actor's psychological mastery.
An image to reproduce
The canvas is designed as a model for a photoengraving board, accompanied by a photograph of the actor.
From letter to publication
The official order, step by step
The archives brought together by the Albertina and the Klimt Database make it possible to follow a longer and more constructed project than a simple installation session.
The order
Klimt is given the mission to portray a well-known figure from the former Burgtheater in a role that changes his appearance little.
The choice
A letter documents the choice of Josef Lewinsky as Carlos in the drama Clavigo from Goethe.
The frame
Klimt probably worked very early on on the side panels and the allegory of the theater that enveloped the portrait.
Almost finished
Correspondence indicates that the painting is close to its final state after about a year of work.
The publication
The image joins the volume devoted to the Hofburgtheater, with a photograph of the model reproduced nearby.
The Belvedere
The painting enters the collection of the Moderne Galerie, the future collection of Belvedere, through the sponsoring company.
The role that identifies the actor
Why does Klimt choose Carlos in Clavigo ?
In Goethe's drama, Carlos is Clavigo's friend. He encourages her to prioritize her career and position over her commitment to Marie Beaumarchais. He is not the romantic hero of the action: he acts as a cold intelligence, strategist and voice of ambition.
This role suits Lewinsky's reputation. The actor was admired for his diction, control and ability to give psychological depth to dark characters. Representing him as Carlos therefore allows us to show an almost unchanged face while evoking a stage personality immediately identifiable to the Viennese audience.
The costume also helps Klimt. Black on a black background, it erases the limits of the body and forces the viewer to read the presence through the face, collar, cuffs and hands. The actor is not shown in action: he seems to be making a decision.
The face
The brightest area concentrates authority, doubt and character mastery.
The costume
Black absorbs contours and transforms the body into an almost abstract mass.
Hands
The small clear accents reintroduce the gesture without breaking the general stillness.
Guided reading
An apparition constructed by black
The painting is small, but it organizes several depths. In the center, Lewinsky stands in a dark scene. The painted frame, lighter and more ornamented, acts like a second image around him. The portrait thus appears embedded in a theater object.
The background and the costume come together. Instead of clearly cutting out the silhouette, Klimt lets the black engulf the shoulders and torso. This fusion makes the face more present. The white of the shirt and wrists does not only describe a garment: it measures the amount of light necessary to bring the actor into existence.
The precision is almost miniaturist. However, the painting does not seek photographic illusion. The side planes, branches and symbols show that Klimt already thinks of the surface as an assembly of autonomous fields.
Portrait
The resemblance remains central and guarantees Lewinsky's identification.
Scene
The black and the costume indicate a role without showing a specific episode of the drama.
Painted frame
It separates and connects the modern world of the actor to theatrical Antiquity.
Surface
The tripartition announces Klimt's taste for flat and decorative areas.
On the margins of the portrait
Mask, Dionysus and tripod: a history of theater in a few signs
The side elements are not simple ornaments. They give the Viennese commission historical depth and transform the role portrait into an allegory.
The branches
The branches on a gray background create a decorative and vegetal register. They lighten the black mass of the portrait.
The antique tripod
The incense burner evokes ritual and Antiquity. Its vertical balances the figure of Lewinsky.
The allegory of theater
A laughing woman, a tragic mask and a Dionysus head combine comedy, tragedy and the cult origin of the scene.
This iconography should not be read as a realistic scene around the actor. Klimt superimposes levels: Lewinsky belongs to the 19th centurye century, Carlos in the 18th centurye, while Dionysus and the masks refer to Antiquity. The frame therefore contains a small visual genealogy of the theater.
The coexistence of these plans explains why the work is often considered a milestone towards Klimt's symbolism. Signs do not describe a place: they produce an idea.
Vienna and the stage
Which Burgtheater is behind the order?
The project celebrates the memory of the old Hofburgtheater, but it is conceived after the opening of the new Burgtheater on the Ring. The distinction avoids frequent anachronism.
Lewinsky's portrait thus belongs to a continuity. Klimt had already worked for the new Burgtheater with his brother Ernst and Franz Matsch, notably on staircase paintings. A few years later, he returned to the theater by another path: no longer architectural decoration, but the autonomous image of a historical actor.
1835 - 1907
Who was Josef Lewinsky?
Born in Vienna on September 20, 1835 into a family of artisans, Lewinsky abandoned his studies after the death of his father. He trained in the theater, went through several provincial stages and attracted attention in the role of Franz Moor. Heinrich Laube hired him at the Burgtheater in 1858.
His career lasted forty-eight years there and covered around three hundred roles. He becomes Hofschauspieler in 1865, then director in charge of tragedy in 1872. His diction, his sobriety and his psychological study of the characters earned him the opportunity to be considered a precursor of a more modern game.
Lewinsky bids farewell to the stage on May 6, 1906 as the Bishop of Bamberg Gotz von Berlichingen. He died in Vienna on February 27, 1907. Klimt's portrait therefore does not represent a passing celebrity, but an institutional memory of the theater.
Before the Secession
A pivotal painting in Klimt's work
In 1895, Klimt was not yet the author of the Kiss. The portrait shows the moment when his very precise naturalism begins to coexist with symbolic and Japanese margins.
The Auditorium
A host of meticulous portraits stare at the Viennese elite in a still-perspective space.
See reproduction →
Joseph Pembauer
The decorative framework and professional identity of the model already prepare Lewinsky's logic.
See reproduction →
Music
The figure, ancient signs and flattened space make the same symbolist thrust visible.
See reproduction →Change does not happen in a single table. L'Auditorium proves Klimt's naturalistic virtuosity. Joseph Pembauer shows how the executive can identify a profession. Music develops allegory. Lewinsky brings together these three directions: resemblance, public identity and symbols.
Photography, sculpture, painting
Does Klimt paint from nature?
Lewinsky travels during part of the project. According to Klimt Database documentation, Klimt therefore relies on a photograph and a small bronze sculpture by Karl Dietrich. No preparatory drawing of the face is now identified with certainty.
This situation does not detract from the quality of the portrait. On the contrary, it shows the work of synthesis. Klimt has traces fixing the face, the costume and the presence of the actor. He transforms them into a pictorial image, adjusts the contrasts and builds an entirely new symbolic system around the model.
The bust reproduced here is not the Dietrich statuette used as a source: it is another work, by Wilhelmina Högel. It is used to measure the diversity of Lewinsky's images, without confusing the objects.
Extend your gaze
The portrait and the Burgtheater in reproduction
Three works make it possible to compose a coherent whole around the theater, the official portrait and fin-de-siecle Vienna.
Documentation verified
Main sources
Belvedere · history of the work
Commissioned, role of Carlos, career of Lewinsky, stylistic choices and place of portraiture in publication.
Read the folder →Klimt Database · symbolism
Chronology of the project, work based on photography and bronze, tripartition, allegory of theater and Japanese influences.
View analysis →Klimt Database · Josef Lewinsky
Detailed biography, career at the Burgtheater, roles, method of play and history of the 1894 commission.
See biography →Albertina · digital catalog
Correspondence dates, order formulation, completion status and rembranesque chiaroscuro.
Read the instructions →Belvedere · collection notice
Date, technique, dimensions, inventory, provenance and reading of the allegory surrounding the portrait.
Consult the file →Wien Museum · role photography
Josef Lewinsky as Carlos in Clavigo, circa 1860, photograph by Carl von Jagemann, inv. 110070, CC0.
See the photograph →Visual credits: main work by Gustav Klimt, Belvedere, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons; photography by Carlos, Wien Museum, CC0; historical photographs and views of the Burgtheater via Wikimedia Commons according to the licenses indicated on each file; images of reproductions, Alpha Reproduction. Each image address is used only once in the body of the article.
Frequently asked questions
The portrait of Josef Lewinsky in eight responses
Who was Josef Lewinsky?
Josef Lewinsky, born in 1835 and died in 1907, was a famous Viennese actor, a member of the Burgtheater for forty-eight years and a performer in around three hundred roles.
What role does he play in Klimt's painting?
He is depicted as Carlos in Clavigo from Goethe, one of his most admired roles.
Is the portrait an official order?
Yes. The Society for the Art of Reproduction commissioned it in 1894 for a historical publication devoted to the Viennese Hofburgtheater.
Did Klimt paint Lewinsky from nature?
Only in part. The actor was traveling and Klimt also relied on a photograph and a bronze statuette by Karl Dietrich.
What do the symbols around the actor represent?
The ancient tripod, the smoke, the laughing figure, the tragic mask and Dionysus compose an allegory of the history and origins of theater.
When was the painting painted?
The order dates from 1894 and the painting was almost completed in June 1895. It is generally dated 1895.
What are its dimensions?
The painting measures 60 × 44 cm. It is an oil on canvas of vertical format.
Where is the portrait of Josef Lewinsky?
It belongs to the Belvedere in Vienna, under inventory number 494. You must check the day's hanging before a visit.
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