Tea at Trianon: Gustav Klimt’s Obsession With Gold

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Gustav Klimt’s Obsession With Gold

From ArtNet:

Gustav Klimt made gold modern. At the turn of the 20th century, the Viennese artist captivated public attention with his sinuous depictions of women (and occasionally men) which he adorned with copious amounts of gold leaf. These visions—which were sensual and often erotic, featuring glittering backgrounds—changed the course of 20th-century art.

Most famous among these was his masterpiece, The Kiss (1907–08) (called The Lovers by the artist), which depicts a man and woman embracing, their bodies dissolved into golden abstractions, in a moment of transcendence. It has become the icon of the artist’s celebrated “Golden Phase,” an era of work when ornamental gold leaf featured prominently across his canvases. Pallas Athene, from 1898, is considered the earliest work from this period, which the artist continued until 1909. In this painting, the Greek goddess Athena appears in golden armor with an imperious stare. With gold leaf applied to the background and her armor, the painting hints at the disembodied and majestic beauty of Klimt’s later works, while still hewing to his earlier realist style. Right now, this style-shifting painting is on view “Secessions: Klimt, Stuck, Liebermann on view at Wien Museums in Vienna, Austria, through October 13, 2024.

An Aesthetic Rebellion, Leafed With Gold

To the surprise of many, these golden-laced works comprise only a small fraction of the artist’s oeuvre. A founding artist of the Vienna Secession, an art movement closely aligned to Art Nouveau in France, Klimt rebelled against the stagnancy of traditional styles and embraced cross-disciplinary influences. Throughout his relatively brief lifetime (he died at 55 from the effects of the Spanish flu), he was prolific, and drew daily; more than 4,000 of his drawings survive today. He painted over 200 paintings, it is believed, of which over 160 are known. (Read more.)