Vienna · 1901 · Beginning of the Golden Period
Judith Iby Gustav Klimt
A face with half-closed eyes, a slightly open mouth, a gold necklace and, almost hidden at the edge of the painting, the head of Holofernes. Klimt transforms the biblical heroine into a modern icon: fascinating, sovereign, and impossible to reduce to the mere image of a 'femme fatale'.
Identifying the masterwork
A narrow, vertical, and immediately unsettling painting
Judith I, also calledJudith and Holofernes, was painted by Gustav Klimt in 1901. The work measures 84 centimetres tall by 42 wide: a vertical rectangle that tightens the scene around the heroine's bust and face. It is executed in oil with gold applications on canvas and now hangs at the Belvedere in Vienna.
Format matters as much as subject. Rather than illustrating the full action — the enemy camp, the sword, the servant Abra, or the flight — Klimt cuts nearly all of it. Judith fills the surface; Holofernes is little more than a dark head, partially visible in the lower right corner. This narrative economy forces the viewer to look for the proof of the murder after already meeting the victor's gaze.
The original frame completes the work. Drawn by Gustav Klimt and executed by his brother Georg, goldsmith and chaser, it bears at the top the inscription « Judith und Holofernes ». This precision is not decorative: it fixes the character's identity at the very moment when the sensuality of the image could lead some viewers toward Salome, another decapitation figure strongly present in late 19th-century art.
Klimt barely shows the murderous act. He paints the moment after: when victory, desire, and danger overlap.
Before Klimt: The Book of Judith
How a widow becomes the heroine of Bethulia
The painting becomes much clearer when you know the story. Judith is not a murderer without context: she acts to free her besieged city.
The threatened city
In the Book of Judith, the army of Holofernes lays siege to Bethulia. Water runs short and the inhabitants are close to surrendering. Judith, a widow respected for her piety and intelligence, refuses to resign herself to defeat.
The entry into the camp
She adorns herself in her finest clothes, leaves the city with her maid, and wins the trust of the Assyrian general. Her beauty becomes a strategy in the service of a political and collective project.
The Night of Holofernes
After a banquet, Holofernes collapses drunk. Judith seizes his sword, beheads him, and entrusts the head to her maid. The two women return to Bethulia without being stopped.
The Deliverance
Discovering their leader dead, the enemy soldiers panic and scatter. Judith is celebrated as the woman who saved her people through her courage, her intelligence, and her determination.
Read the painting detail by detail
The gaze before the sword
Six elements structure the experience of the work: the face, the posture, the necklace, the veil, the severed head, and the golden background. None works alone.
The half-closed eyes
Judith does not look away. Her lowered eyelids create a presence that is both frontal and inward. She seems less to narrate the action than to still hold its effect in check.
The half-open mouth
This detail gives the face a sensuality that traditional heroic iconography did not always place at the forefront. With Klimt, eroticism and danger become inseparable.
The neck and the collar
The wide golden choker transforms the throat into the axis of the composition. Jewel, armor, or visual threshold, it separates flesh from garment and echoes the metallic frame.
The transparent veil
The fabric barely covers the bust. Its motifs and its transparency blur the line between real body and ornamental surface — a central device in Klimt's art.
Holofernes on the edge
The severed head occupies only a small part of the image. This marginalization does not remove the violence; it makes it more disturbing, because you have to discover it.
The background without a horizon
Neither a room nor a realistic landscape: Judith stands out against a space of gold and stylized patterns. The setting extracts her from narrative time and elevates her to the rank of icon.
At the threshold of the Golden Period
Gold is not a background: it is an actor
The Belvedere presentsJudith Ias one of the first works in which Klimt uses real gold leaf. The precious material transforms the light, the space, and the status of the image.
Painting, jewel, and icon
In a photographic reproduction, the gold appears uniform. In front of the work, it responds to the shifting gaze and to the light. It can seem dense, matte, brilliant, or almost liquid. This material variation sets the living presence of the surface against the constructed calm of the face.
The background contains stylized motifs of fig trees and vines. The Belvedere links them to reliefs from the Assyrian palace of Sennacherib, which Klimt may have known through reproductions. The detail thus creates a discreet connection to the world of Holofernes, while remaining integrated into the modern ornamental language of the Vienna Secession.
Heroine or femme fatale?
An image of power more complex than a simple cliché
Around 1900, the «femme fatale» invaded literature, the theatre, and the visual arts. Salome, Sphinx, Medusa, and Judith became figures onto which desire, fear, and fascination were projected. Klimt took part in this climate, butJudith Idoes not reduce itself to the misogynistic image of a dangerous seductress.
In the biblical narrative, Judith acts to save a community. She prepares her plan, crosses the enemy camp alone, and confronts a military leader. Her appearance is a chosen instrument, not an essence that condemns her. Klimt's framing further grants her the full authority of the image: she is neither caught off guard nor punished, and no male character comes to take back control of the scene.
The Belvedere brings the work closer to the playJudithwritten by Friedrich Hebbel in 1840, an interpretation that links sexuality and death more closely than the biblical text. This reference illuminates the fin-de-siècle atmosphere of the painting, without erasing the other possible readings: political victory, female autonomy, male fascination, heroization or critique of the categories imposed on women.
The power of Judith comes precisely from the fact that she remains irreducible: saint or seductress, liberator or threat, modern portrait or ancient figure.
No longer confusing the two works
Judith I, Judith II and Salome
Klimt returned to the subject eight years later. The second composition, far more vertical and charged with nervous tension, is often associated with Salome — which explains the variable titles across languages and collections.
Judith I · 1901
Measuring 84 × 42 cm, with a golden ground, a calm face, half-closed eyes and a partly hidden Holofernes' head. It is held at the Belvedere in Vienna.
Judith II · 1909
A slimmer silhouette, clenched hands, sinuous lines and a sharper tension. The work is also known by the titleSalomeand is housed at the Ca' Pesaro in Venice.
From the ancient story to the Viennese museum
The key timeline
A few dates suffice to place Judith within Klimt's development and to understand the painting's particular place.
Inside Klimt's world
Women who structure the entire image
Judith heralds several major explorations of the Golden Period: fusion of body and pattern, frontality, jewelry, genuine gold, and the psychology of the gaze.
Adèle Bloch-Bauer I
The face and hands emerge from a field of gold, of eyes, and of geometries.
Le Baiser
Precious material envelops the couple and transforms the embrace into an icon.
L’Espoir II
Life, death, pregnancy and decorative motif coexist in a space without horizon.
The Tree of Life
The spirals extend the dream of total art, where image, matter and architecture unite.
See the original in Vienna
Judith I at the Belvedere
The painting belongs to the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, the museum that holds the most important collection of Klimt's paintings, includingThe Kiss.
What the screen cannot show
A photograph conveys the drawing, but far less the difference between oil paint, the thick impasto of the jewelry, the gold leaf, and the metallic frame. In front of the work, the surface shifts with the light and the viewing distance. Its very narrow format also becomes more apparent: Judith appears almost as a condensed, life-sized apparition.
The hanging may change over time owing to loans, restorations, or gallery reshuffles. Before visiting, please check the current display and opening hours on the official Belvedere website.
A bold presence in an interior
How to display a reproduction of Judith I
Its slender format and the contrast of black, red, and gold make it especially effective on a narrow wall or in a room with a bold, intentional atmosphere.
| Placement | Between two openings, in an entryway, near a bookcase, or on a vertical wall section that the format can structure. |
|---|---|
| Light wall | An ivory, a sandy tone, or a light taupe lets the golds radiate and maintains an elegant atmosphere. |
| Deep wall | A wine red, almost-black brown or forest green amplifies the theatrical character of the painting. |
| Lighting | Warm, slightly lateral light reveals the relief without producing an overly harsh frontal reflection. |
| Frame | Matte black, dark wood, bronze or patinated gilding. Avoid an overly ornate frame that would already compete with the decoration. |
| Pairing | Velvet, walnut, brass, dark ceramic and plain textiles extend the palette without turning the room into a theater set. |
Hand-painted reproduction
Judith I — Gustav Klimt
Discover the vertical format, the subtle nuances of the face, the precious necklace and the golden harmonies in an oil painting crafted for your interior.
View the reproduction and the formatsExplore the boutique
Continue into the world of Judith and Klimt
The main work, its detail, the second Judith and the closest collections let you move from a single painting to a coherent ensemble.
Judith I
Choose the format of the hand-painted reproduction.
Close-upJudith I · detail
Focus on the face, gaze, and gold necklace.
The second paintingJudith II
Compare the 1909 version, more sinuous and nervous.
The artist · 139 worksGustav Klimt
Portraits, landscapes, friezes and golden masterpieces.
Selection · 40 worksPortraits of Klimt
Viennese figures, precious motifs and the psychology of the gaze.
The Style · 739 worksArt Nouveau Painting
Line, stylized nature and decorative elegance.
Symbolism · 937 worksMyths and inner worlds
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Verified sources
Explore Judith I further
The material and historical facts in this article draw primarily on the Belvedere's resources and its catalogue dedicated to Gustav Klimt.
Belvedere · Judith
Analysis of the subject, the gaze, the jewelry, the Assyrian background, and the original frame.
Read the Belvedere presentationCatalogue entry of the work
Date, dimensions, technique, and preservation of Judith I in the Viennese collection.
View Judith's pageThe Golden Phase
Role of the genuine gold leaf and the place of Judith among Klimt's first gilded works.
Explore the Golden PhaseBelvedere Klimt Catalogue
Recent research, works from the collection and preparatory documents, including a sketch of Judith.
Discover the catalogueFrequently Asked Questions
Understanding Klimt's Judith I
The essential answers about the date, the figure, the technique, the museum, and the differences between the two Judiths.
When did Gustav Klimt paint Judith I?
Klimt completed Judith I in 1901. This date places the work at the beginning of his Golden Period, before the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I and The Kiss.
What does Judith I represent?
The painting depicts Judith after the beheading of the Assyrian general Holofernes. In the biblical narrative, she commits this act to save her city and her people.
Where is the original painting?
Judith I belongs to the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna. The museum acquired it in 1954 from the widow of the painter Ferdinand Hodler.
What are the dimensions of Judith I?
The original measures 84 centimeters high by 42 centimeters wide. Its very narrow vertical format focuses the eye on the face and the bust.
Did Klimt use real gold?
Yes. Judith I combines oil painting with gold applications on canvas. The Belvedere presents it as one of the first works in which Klimt truly uses gold leaf.
Why do people confuse Judith with Salome?
Both heroines are associated with a beheading in the artistic imagination. The sensuality of Klimt's Judith reinforced the confusion, but the original frame bears the explicit inscription 'Judith und Holofernes'.
What is the difference between Judith I and Judith II?
Judith I dates from 1901 and is characterized by its golden background and frontal calm. Judith II dates from 1909; its silhouette is more elongated, its lines more nervous, and the work is also known as Salome.
Who made the frame of Judith I?
Gustav Klimt designed the frame, and his brother Georg Klimt, a goldsmith, crafted it. The upper inscription plays a direct role in the identification and reading of the painting.
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