Vienna · 1901 · Beginning of the golden period
Judith Iby Gustav Klimt
A face with half-closed eyes, a half-open mouth, a gold necklace and, almost hidden at the edge of the painting, Holofernes' head. Klimt transforms the biblical heroine into a modern icon: fascinating, sovereign and impossible to reduce to the sole image of a "femme fatale".
Identify the masterpiece
A narrow, vertical and immediately disturbing painting
Judith I, also called Judith and Holofernes, was painted by Gustav Klimt in 1901. The work measures 84 centimeters high by 42 centimeters wide: a vertical rectangle which tightens the scene around the bust and face of the heroine. It is made in oil with gold applications on canvas and is now in Belvedere, Vienna.
The format matters as much as the subject. Instead of illustrating the full action - the enemy camp, the sword, the servant Abra or the flight - Klimt cuts almost everything. Judith fills the surface; Holofernes is nothing more than a dark head, partially visible in the lower right corner. This narrative economy forces the viewer to look for proof of the murder after having already met the gaze of the victorious woman.
The original frame completes the work. Designed by Gustav Klimt and created by his brother Georg, goldsmith and scissor, it bears the inscription "Judith und Holofernes" at the top. This precision is not decorative: it fixes the identity of the character at the very moment when the sensuality of the image could lead certain glances towards Salomé, another figure of decapitation very present in the art of the end of the 19th century.
Klimt hardly shows the murderous gesture. He paints the next moment: the one where victory, desire and danger overlap.
Before Klimt: the Book of Judith
How a widow becomes the heroine of Bethulia
The picture remains much clearer when you know the story. Judith is not a murderer without context: she acts to free her besieged city.
The city threatened
In the Book of Judith, Holofernes' army besieges Bethulia. Water is lacking and the inhabitants are close to surrendering. Judith, a widow respected for her piety and intelligence, refuses resignation.
Entrance into the camp
She adorns herself in her most beautiful clothes, leaves the city with her servant and gains the trust of the Assyrian general. Its beauty becomes a strategy serving a political and collective project.
Holofernes Night
After a banquet, Holofernes collapses drunk. Judith grabs his sword, decapitates it and entrusts the head to her servant. The two women return to Bethulia without being arrested.
Deliverance
Discovering their leader dead, the enemy soldiers panic and disperse. Judith is celebrated as the woman who saved her people with her courage, intelligence and determination.
Read the table detail by detail
The look 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 work alone.
Eyes half closed
Judith doesn't look away. Her lowered eyelids create a presence that is both frontal and interior. She seems less to tell the story of the action than to further master its effect.
Mouth half open
This detail gives the face a sensuality that traditional heroic iconography did not always place at the forefront. In Klimt, eroticism and danger become inseparable.
The neck and the collar
The large golden choker transforms the throat into the axis of the composition. Jewelry, armor or visual threshold, it separates the flesh from the garment and responds to the metal frame.
The transparent veil
The fabric barely covers the bust. Its patterns and transparency blur the line between real body and ornamental surface, a central process in Klimt's art.
Holofernes on the edge
The severed head occupies only a small part of the image. This marginalization does not eliminate violence; it makes it more worrying, because it must be discovered.
The bottom without horizon
Neither bedroom nor realistic landscape: Judith stands out against a space of gold and stylized patterns. The decor extracts him from narrative time and elevates him to the rank of icon.
On the threshold of the golden period
Gold is not a background: it's an actor
Belvedere presents Judith I as one of the first works in which Klimt used real gold leaf. Precious matter changes the light, space and status of the image.
Painting, jewelry and icon
On a photographic reproduction, gold appears uniform. In front of the work, it reacts to the movement of the gaze and lighting. It can appear dense, matte, shiny or almost liquid. This material variation opposes the living presence of the surface to the constructed calm of the face.
The background features stylized fig and vine motifs. The Belvedere brings them closer to reliefs from the Assyrian palace of Sennacherib that Klimt was able to know through reproductions. The detail therefore creates a discreet link with the world of Holofernes, while remaining integrated into the modern ornamental language of the Viennese Secession.
Heroine or femme fatale?
A more complex image of power than a simple cliché
Around 1900, the "femme fatale" invaded literature, theater and the visual arts. Salomé, Sphinx, Medusa or Judith become figures where desire, fear and fascination are projected. Klimt participates in this climate, but Judith I not just the misogynistic image of a dangerous seductress.
In the biblical story, 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 also gives her all the authority of the image: she is neither surprised nor punished, and no male character comes to regain control of the scene.
Belvedere brings work closer to play Judith written by Friedrich Hebbel in 1840, an interpretation which unites sexuality and death more than the biblical text. This reference illuminates the fin-de-siecle atmosphere of the painting, without erasing other possible readings: political victory, female autonomy, male fascination, heroization or criticism of the categories imposed on women.
Judith's power comes precisely from the fact that she remains irreducible: saint or seductress, liberator or threat, modern portrait or ancient character.
No longer confuse the two works
Judith I, Judith II and Salome
Klimt took up the subject eight years later. The second composition, much more vertical and nervous, is often associated with Salomé - hence titles vary depending on the languages and collections.
Judith I · 1901
Format of 84 × 42 cm, golden background, calm face, half-closed gaze and partially hidden Holofernes' head. It is kept at the Belvedere in Vienna.
Judith II · 1909
More tapered silhouette, clenched hands, sinuous lines and higher tension. The work is also known by the title Salome and is located at the Ca' Pesaro in Venice.
From ancient stories to the Viennese museum
The essential chronology
A few dates are enough to place Judith in the evolution of Klimt and understand the particular place of the painting.
In Klimt's universe
Women who structure the whole image
Judith announces several major researches of the golden period: fusion of body and pattern, frontality, jewelry, real gold and psychology of the gaze.
Adèle Bloch-Bauer I
Face and hands emerge from a field of gold, eyes and geometries.
The kiss
The precious material envelops the couple and transforms the embrace into an icon.
Hope II
Life, death, pregnancy and decorative motif coexist in a space without horizons.
The Tree of Life
The spirals extend the dream of total art where image, material and architecture unite.
View original in Vienna
Judith I at Belvedere
The painting belongs to the Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere, a museum which preserves the most important collection of Klimt paintings, including The kiss.
What the screen can't show
A photograph restores the drawing, but much less the difference between the oil, the impasto of the jewelry, the gold leaf and the metal frame. In front of the work, the surface changes with light and distance. We also better perceive its very narrow format: Judith appears almost as a condensed grandeur apparition.
The hanging may change depending on loans, restorations or room changes. Before traveling, check the current presentation and times on the official Belvedere website.
A strong presence in an interior
How to display a reproduction of Judith I
Its slender format and its contrast between black, red and gold make it a particularly effective work on a narrow wall or in a room with an assertive atmosphere.
| Location | Between two openings, in an entrance, near a bookcase or on a section of vertical wall that the format can structure. |
|---|---|
| Clear wall | Ivory, sand or greige lets the golds shine and maintains an elegant atmosphere. |
| Deep wall | A wine-colored, brown, almost black or forest green amplifies the theatrical character of the painting. |
| Lighting | Warm, slightly lateral light reveals the reliefs without producing too aggressive frontal reflection. |
| Frame | Matte black, dark wood, bronze or patinated gilding. Avoid overly busy molding that would already compete with ornament. |
| Association | Velvet, walnut, brass, dark ceramic and plain textiles extend the palette without transforming the play into a theater setting. |
Hand painted reproduction
Judith I - Gustav Klimt
Find the vertical format, the nuances of the face, the precious necklace and the golden accords in an oil painting created for your interior.
See reproduction and formatsExplore the store
Continue into the world of Judith and Klimt
The main work, its detail, the second Judith and the closest collections allow us to move from the painting to a coherent whole.
Judith I
Choose the format of the hand-painted reproduction.
Close framingJudith I · detail
Emphasize the face, look and golden necklace.
The second paintingJudith II
Compare the 1909 version, more sinuous and nervous.
The artist · 139 worksGustav Klimt
Golden portraits, landscapes, friezes and masterpieces.
Selection · 40 worksPortraits of Klimt
Viennese figures, precious motifs and psychology of the gaze.
The style · 739 worksArt Nouveau painting
Line, stylized nature and decorative elegance.
Symbolism · 937 worksMyths and inner worlds
Allegories, dreams and images full of meaning.
Masterpieces · 1,555 worksFamous paintings
The essential images of art history.
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Verified sources
To deepen Judith I
The material and historical facts of this article are based primarily on the resources of Belvedere and its catalog dedicated to Gustav Klimt.
Belvedere · Judith
Analysis of the subject, the look, the jewelry, the Assyrian background and the original setting.
Read the Belvedere presentationNotice of work
Date, dimensions, technique and conservation of Judith I in the Viennese collection.
Consult Judith's fileThe golden period
Role of real gold leaf and place of Judith among Klimt's early golden works.
Explore the golden periodKlimt catalog of Belvedere
Recent research, works from the collection and preparatory documents, including a sketch by Judith.
Discover the catalogFrequently asked questions
Understanding Judith I by Klimt
The essential answers on the date, the character, 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 its golden period, before the Portrait of Adèle 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 story, she performs this act in order to save her city and her people.
Where is the original painting located?
Judith I belongs to the Osterreichische 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 bust.
Did Klimt use real gold?
Yes. Judith I combines oil painting and gold applications on canvas. The Belvedere presents it as one of the first works where Klimt actually used gold leaf.
Why do we confuse Judith with Salomé?
The two heroines are associated with a beheading in the artistic imagination. The sensuality of Klimt's Judith has reinforced the confusion, but the original frame explicitly bears the 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 its calm frontal. Judith II dates from 1909; its silhouette is more stretched, its lines more nervous and the work is also called Salomé.
Who created the frame for Judith I?
Gustav Klimt designed the frame and his brother Georg Klimt, a goldsmith, made it. The upper inscription directly participates in the identification and reading of the painting.
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