Gustav Klimt · allegory · Vienna fin de siècle
Music I and II how Klimt represents sound
Klimt does not paint music as a simple concert. He transforms it into a figure, into silence, into an antique mask, into a lyre, into a decorative rhythm. Between Music I, small allegory preserved in Munich, and Music II, a large painting destroyed in 1945, we see a whole Viennese idea pass by: sound becomes a mental image.
The short answer
Klimt represents sound through signs, not noise
Music I, painted in 1895, shows a woman holding a lyre, accompanied by symbolic elements: a sphinx, a Silenus mask, lion teeth, a meditative face. The image is small, dense, almost like an allegorical vignette: music becomes knowledge, enigma, energy and interiority.
Music II, dated 1898, takes up the theme on a much more monumental scale. The work measured approximately 150 × 200 cm and belonged to the Lederer collection. It was destroyed in 1945 in the fire of Immendorf Castle, along with other major Klimts.
Between the two versions, Klimt moves from a still readable allegory to a more decorative and theatrical vision. It does not show a musical note: it shows what music does to the body, to memory and to space.
I · Symbols
In Music I, each object gives quality to the sound
Klimt composes an almost silent image. No instrument is played with emphasis; yet everything speaks of music. The lyre indicates sound art, but the real subject is deeper: music as inner power.
The lyre
It immediately gives the theme: music, poetry, antiquity, singing. But it is held more than it is played. The sound is powerful, restrained.
The sphinx
The sphinx makes music an enigma. He suggests that hearing is not just about receiving a sound: it is about facing something obscure.
The mask
Silenus' mask introduces theater, intoxication, the ancient world and the Dionysian part. Music touches both the body and the mind.
The face
The woman does not look at the viewer with dramatic intensity. She seems absorbed. Klimt paints listening as meditation.
The golden
Gilded bronze already announces the golden period: sound is not invisible, it becomes brilliance, precious surface, material vibration.
The silence
The paradox is delicious: to represent the music, Klimt paints an almost silent scene. It is the silence of the image that lets us imagine the sound.
II · Music I /Music II
Two formats, two ways of making the image heard
The first version is intimate; the second is monumental. One survives in a public collection, the other only exists through reproduction. This difference also changes the way we look at them.
Music I
A condensed allegory, where the symbol counts more than the narration.
Music II
A monumental version, known by reproduction, which broadens the theme to the decor.
| Appearance | Music I | Music II |
|---|---|---|
| Date | 1895 | 1898 |
| Format | Small painting, very concentrated image. | Large format, approximately 150 × 200 cm. |
| Current status | Preserved at the Neue Pinakothek /Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen. | Destroyed in 1945 at Immendorf Castle. |
| Effect | Meditative allegory. | More monumental and decorative vision. |
| What we hear | An inner, almost philosophical sound. | Music that has become space, theater and lost memory. |
III · How to paint sound?
At Klimt, sound becomes visual rhythm
Replace note with allegory
Rather than painting a readable score or an instrument in action, Klimt chose a figure. Sound becomes a person, therefore a state.
Using Antiquity as resonance
Lyre, sphinx, mask: these signs give the music an archaic depth. It seems older than the scene itself.
Vibrate the surface
Gold and decorative contrasts play the role of vibration. Music is not just a subject; it becomes a texture.
Leave the image silent
The more the image is silent, the more it forces the viewer to imagine. Klimt paints the mental space that precedes or follows sound.
Joseph Pembaur
Before allegories, Klimt also painted an identifiable musician. The portrait already links realism, symbol and instrument.
IV · Lost works
Music II also belongs to the story of the destroyed Klimts
In 1945, several major works by Klimt disappeared in the fire at Immendorf Castle. This loss affects paintings from the Lederer collection and changes our relationship with Klimt: certain images are no longer paintings, but traces.
Schubert on piano
Another great lost musical image: a living room, a listening room, a candlelight, and Schubert transformed into Viennese memory.
The Beethoven Friesland
Here, music is no longer just a theme: it organizes an entire frieze around the desire for happiness.
See by reproduction
For certain destroyed works, old photography becomes the only possible access: precious, but incomplete.
Important nuance: a destroyed image is not a worthless image. On the contrary, it becomes a historical document: it forces us to distinguish the material work, which has disappeared, and the visual memory which remains.
V · See around the theme
Klimt between music, theater and ornament
The musical theme is better understood if we place it in Vienna 1900: concerts, salons, Secession, Beethoven, portraits of musicians and taste for allegory.
The Viennese Secession
Music becomes a model for the visual arts: rhythm, ensemble, immersion, total work.
The Belvedere
A central place to understand Klimt, its friezes, its portraits and its modern reception.
The workshop
Music at Klimt is also a work of composition: placing, balancing, making vibrate.
Shop
Extend Klimt: rhythm, gold and symbolic figures
Even if Music II has disappeared, Klimt's sound universe naturally dialogues with his golden works, his friezes and his great decorative figures.
Sources
Sources used
Museum sources and free files to check dates, dimensions, collection, destruction and iconography.
Die Musik, 1895
Official notice: technique, dimensions, acquisition in 1901 and Munich collection.
Google Arts /Neue PinakothekMusic
Summary notice with date, dimensions and medium.
Wikimedia CommonsImage Music I
Public domain source file then imported to Shopify CDN.
Wikimedia CommonsImage Music II
Reproduction of the destroyed work, visual reference document.
Wikimedia CommonsSchubert on piano
Another musical work by Klimt destroyed in 1945.
Wikimedia CommonsJoseph Pembaur
Portrait of a real musician by Klimt, useful for broadening the theme.
Frequently asked questions
Understanding Klimt's Music
Where is Klimt's Music I?
Music I, or Die Musik, is kept in the collections of the Neue Pinakothek /Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen in Munich.
Does Music II still exist?
No. Music II, dated 1898, was destroyed in 1945 in the fire of Immendorf Castle, along with other major works by Klimt.
Why does Klimt use a lyre?
The lyre refers to Antiquity, poetry and music. In Klimt, it is used less to describe a concert than to give a symbolic form to the sound.
What is the link with the Beethoven Friesland?
The Beethoven Frieze extends this idea: music becomes a visual structure, a wall journey, almost an immersive experience before its time.
Why talk about silence in an article on music?
Because Klimt often represents the inner effect of sound. The image is silent, but it suggests listening, memory and mental vibration.
In Klimt, music does not only come from an instrument: it becomes a figure that thinks, a setting that vibrates, a memory that survives.
Music I remains as a precious allegory. Music II, perdu, reminds us that certain works continue to resonate precisely because they have disappeared.
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