Klimt · 1901 -1902 · response to reviews
Goldfish provocation, color and change of title
Goldfish is one of Gustav Klimt's most insolent paintings. Under the guise of a decorative aquatic world, he responds to the criticism that had attacked his paintings for the University of Vienna: a red nymph turns around, almost smiles, and offers the public exactly what he claimed to condemn.
Explore KlimtUnderstand the title
The short answer
A beautiful, aquatic and deliberately insolent painting
Goldfish, or Goldfische, is an oil on canvas by Gustav Klimt painted in 1901/1902. It is kept at the Kunstmuseum Solothurn, Switzerland, in the Dübi-Müller-Stiftung.
The painting belongs to Klimt's group of aquatic creatures: nymphs, fish, algae, floating hair and female bodies that seem to slide in the water. But it is also a response to the attacks received by Klimt around his Faculty paintings, in particular Medicine, considered scandalous in Vienna.
Tradition reports that Klimt first wanted to title the work To my critics. The final title, Goldfish, is more neutral, but the image retains its gesture of defiance: the main figure turns its back on the spectator and transforms the provocation into a setting.
I · Change of title
From “To my” reviews to “Bright fish”
The violence of the reception of Faculty paintings places Klimt in open conflict with official art. Goldfish works as an ironic response: instead of apologizing, Klimt emphasizes sensuality.
| Name | Meaning | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| To my critics | Initial title or title reported by critical tradition. | The painting becomes a direct response, almost a mockery addressed to moralists. |
| Goldfish | Final title more descriptive and more acceptable for exhibition. | It shifts attention to the aquatic setting, without removing the insolence of the image. |
| Goldfische | German title, preserved by the Kunstmuseum Solothurn. | He emphasizes the color, the sparkle and the floating world of the painting. |
II · Analysis
The nymph, the back and the look
The composition is vertical, but the gaze circulates in curves. Everything floats: bodies, fish, hair, flowers, spots of gold and color.
A calculated provocation
The body seen from behind occupies the top of the image and imposes on the viewer a paradoxical face-to-face encounter: he looks at a refusal from the front.
A look over the shoulder
The red-haired woman does not disappear into the background. She knows she is seen and seems to respond to that look.
Eyes in the water
The fish that enters the composition is not trivial: its fixed eye marks the center and reinforces the strangeness.
A liquid column
The narrow format gives the painting the shape of a curtain of water, a decorative and sensual vertical.
III · Color
Gold, red, green: Klimt turns water into jewelry
Color is the real theater of the painting. The red of the hair and fish responds to greens, blues and gold. The light flesh becomes almost phosphorescent, as if rising from the bottom of the water.
The whole table
Verticality allows the painting to be read as a rise: from dark water towards the luminous figure.
Water Snakes II
A few years later, Klimt developed the same aquatic vocabulary in a large horizontal format.
Water Snakes I
The vertical version shares with Goldfish the taste of the floating body and the precious frame.
IV · Related images and works
The aquatic world of Klimt
These images replace Goldfish in a broader series: water figures, responses to scandal, decor and sensuality.
Goldfish
An insolent response to criticism, but also a great color painting.
Medicine
The controversy over Faculty paintings forms the background to the provocation of Goldfish.
Hygieia
Frontal gaze, snake, decorative authority: Klimt often responds to scandal with more symbol.
The aquatic cycle exposed
The view from the room Water Snakes II helps imagine the physical presence of Klimt's aquatic works.
V · Where to see Goldfish?
At the Kunstmuseum Solothurn, Switzerland
The notice from the Kunstmuseum Solothurn indicates that the work is on display and belongs to the Dübi-Müller-Stiftung. The museum also specifies that the painting, acquired at the Arnot Gallery in Vienna, was in 1919 Otto Dübi's engagement gift to Gertrud Müller and remained in their room.
Kunstmuseum Solothurn
This is where it is located Goldfische. The Swiss museum gives the painting a very concrete history: no longer just Vienna and the scandal, but a collection, a foundation and a place to visit.
The museum building
Solothurn is less immediately associated with Klimt than Vienna. This is precisely what makes the presence of Goldfish interesting: a very Viennese work preserved in a Swiss museum.
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Continue with Klimt: water, body and golden period
After Goldfish, explore Klimt reproductions linked to bodies, aquatic curves, Art Nouveau and golden decor.
Sources
Sources used
Museum records, Klimt Database and Wikimedia Commons to check title, date, collection, dimensions and context.
Goldfische Notice
Date, dimensions, inventory, Dübi-Müller-Stiftung, Dübi/Müller history and interpretation.
Wikimedia CommonsImage of the work
File of Goldfische, then imported to Shopify CDN.
Klimt DatabaseAquatic world
Context of the nymphs, critical reactions, exposure and Goldfische's place in the aquatic series.
Google Arts & CultureGoldfische
Digital notice linked to the Kunstmuseum Solothurn and Belvedere.
Wikimedia CommonsPhoto of the museum
Image from the Kunstmuseum Solothurn, imported to Shopify CDN.
Wikimedia CommonsGoldfische Category
Files and iconographic context around the work.
Frequently asked questions
Understanding Goldfish
When did Klimt paint Goldfish?
Gustav Klimt paints Goldfish in 1901/1902.
Where is the painting located?
The work is located at the Kunstmuseum Solothurn, Switzerland, in the Dübi-Müller-Stiftung.
What was the original title?
Critical tradition reports a provocative title of the type To my critics. The final title, Goldfische, is more descriptive.
Why is the painting provocative?
Because the main figure turns his back and body towards the viewer at the moment when Klimt is accused of indecency for his Faculty paintings.
What is the link with Medicine?
Medicine, a highly criticized Faculty painting, forms the background to Klimt's gesture of defiance.
What connection with Water Snakes?
Goldfish announces Klimt's aquatic cycle: floating bodies, hair, fish, curved lines and decorative eroticism.
With Goldfish, Klimt does not respond to criticism with a defense: he sends them an image.
The painting is a visual joke, a colorful provocation and an essential step towards its great aquatic worlds.
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