VIENNA.- Gustav Klimt's The Bride is one of the most fascinating and enigmatic paintings by the Viennese artist. This exhibition, a joint project with the nonprofit Klimt Foundation, is not only dedicated to the artwork itself but also examines the context in which it was created. It spotlights Klimt's legendary studio on Feldmühlgasse in Vienna's Hietzing district and presents numerous drawings and sketches related to the work, in addition to the latest technical analysis of the painting.

General Director Stella Rollig: The series IN-SIGHT usually shows works from the Belvedere's collection. However, this exhibition about Klimt's The Bride focuses on a painting that does not belong to the museum but has enriched it for years-on loan from a private collection since the 1970s and from the Klimt Foundation since 2013.

The Belvedere is fortunate to be able to include this work in its displays as it fits perfectly with the rest of the museum's Klimt collection. Indeed, as a large-scale allegorical depiction, similarities can be drawn between The Bride and Klimt's iconic work The Kiss (Lovers), which is also conceived as an allegory.

Klimt had started work on this large-scale painting by 1917 at the latest. After his sudden death in February 1918, the painting remained unfinished in his studio on Feldmühlgasse in the Hietzing district of Vienna. A place of inspiration and retreat, this studio played a pivotal role in Klimt's final years. Contemporary voices convey personal impressions of his workplace and of Klimt as a person and artist. These include accounts by his fellow painters Egon Schiele and Felix Albrecht Harta, writings of author Arthur Schnitzler and Japanese artist Kijiro Ota, in addition to reminiscences by Friederike Maria Beer, who was portrayed by Klimt, and his patron Eugenia Primavesi.

The Bride is one of the rare compositions with allegorical content in Gustav Klimt's oeuvre. It strikingly illustrates Klimt's artistic development within the space of a few years both in his visual language and in his symbolism, said Franz Smola, curator at the Belvedere.

A sequence of pencil drawings demonstrates Klimt's meticulous preparation of the figures in The Bride. Studies for the painting can also be found in the artist's last sketchbook, comprehensively presented to the public for the first time in the show. Furthermore, visitors will see Adam and Eve, another important late work by Klimt from the Belvedere's collection.

Sandra Tretter, curator at the Klimt Foundation, Vienna: This exhibition offers the rare opportunity to experience the creation of one of Gustav Klimt's most enigmatic works in all its complexity. By bringing together drawings, sketches, photographs, and eyewitness accounts, we gain a unique insight into Klimt's creative process. In particular, Klimt's last sketchbook before his death one of the few surviving sketchbooks by the artist-allows us to trace the painter's artistic ideas and visions during the second half of 1917.

Finally, the show sheds light on the later history of The Bride. Who were the owners? When and where was the work exhibited? At the same time, the exhibition presents the results of recent technical examinations conducted on the painting.

EXHIBITION TEXTS

When Gustav Klimt died unexpectedly in February 1918 at the age of just fifty-five, there were unfinished paintings in his studio. Among them was the work known today as The Bride, which depicts a young woman surrounded by sensuously intertwined and sometimes naked bodies. The title first appeared in an art magazine a year after the artist's death. But what do we know about the origins of this painting? How did Klimt go about painting it, and what happened to it after he died? The exhibition investigates these questions from different perspectives. Accounts by contemporaries offer a vivid impression of Klimt's last studio on Feldmühlgasse in Vienna-Hietzing. Pencil drawings and Klimt's sketchbook, which he kept from June 1917 to January 1918, show how the artist carefully studied the individual figures in this composition. Technical analyses and findings discovered during the painting's restoration offer deeper structural insights. The Bride has been on loan to the Belvedere from a private collection since the 1970s. Since 2013, it has been part of the Klimt Foundation collection. In this exhibition cooperation with the nonprofit foundation, the Belvedere turns the spotlight on one of Klimt's most enigmatic paintings.

Gustav Klimt's Last Allegory

Gustav Klimt had not yet given a title to the unfinished work on his easel. But what was he working on? What was he depicting? In the center of the painting is a young woman clad entirely in blue, her head dreamily inclined toward the man on the left of the picture. He is surrounded by sensuously intertwined bodies. A sleeping baby can also be seen among the colorful fabrics. But the man's gaze is focused solely on the woman at his side. The female nude on the right of the picture is unfinished. A number of preliminary sketches show that the artist was searching for the ideal position of the head. We can only speculate how Klimt intended the picture to turn out. The painting and the many figures in it remain an enigma. Is Klimt's subject (unrequited) male desire? Or is it a metaphor for the transition of a woman from childhood to adulthood and motherhood? For the last time in this large allegorical work, Klimt presents the relationship between man and woman.

Searching for the Perfect Pose

Gustav Klimt made drawings not only in preparation for his paintings but also often as independent works. Over five thousand of them have survived today. Female nudes were among Klimt's most frequent motifs. The artist worked with live models and often had them pose reclining in his studio. He completed around 120 pencil drawings in preparation for The Bride, in which he studied the positions of the figures in minute detail.

Sketchbook

Gustav Klimt is thought to have filled more than fifty sketchbooks during his lifetime with spontaneous "idea sketches". Almost all of them were destroyed in a fire in 1945. His last sketchbook has survived and is dated by him as covering the period from June 22, 1917, to January 2, 1918. Apart from works that have been destroyed or are no longer traceable today, it also contains previously unexplored aspects of the artist's work, including religious themes. There are also many sketches for the oil painting The Bride, mainly studies for the unfinished female nude on the right of the picture, with designs for the ornamentation of the dress and thoughts about the direction of her gaze. The distinctive tilt of the center figure's head can be seen in the sketchbook as well. The regular oval shape of the face recalls Japanese Nõ theater masks. The composition of the intertwined figures on the left of the painting was also already worked out in the sketchbook.

Gustav Klimt, Adam and Eve

Eve is in the foreground with her gaze directed at the viewer. Adam is nestling tenderly against her with his eyes closed. The unfinished work is usually thought to have been painted in 1917, the last year in which Klimt worked. But according to a diary entry by fellow artist Felix Albrecht Harta, the painting probably already existed in its present form in June 1916. A year later, Gustav Klimt started work on The Bride, which shares formal similarities with Adam and Eve. The central figure in The Bride has a comparable tilt of the head and shape of the face as Eve. The facial features of the two male figures also show parallels, as a study of Adam by Klimt demonstrates.

Looking Under the Surface

The unfinished state of Gustav Klimt's The Bride enables viewers to understand more about the way the artist worked. Technical examinations also give a more detailed view under the surface of the painting, allowing us to reconstruct the painter's creative process step by step. Klimt first primed the canvas with light-colored paint and drew on it his initial concept in charcoal, which he protected from smudging with a thin layer of resin. Then he applied the oil paint. White lines on this layer of paint indicate that Klimt constantly considered making corrections. He also changed the position of the canvas on the stretcher frame and moved it a few centimeters to the right, as can be seen by the left-hand fold-over edge and the visible tack holes. During the restoration it was possible to reconstruct the space between the central figure and the intertwined group of figures. Historical photos show traces of ornamentation that are thought to have disappeared in the early 1930s.

Exhibition and Ownership History

The Bride is part of Gustav Klimt's estate. His longstanding confidante Emilie Flöge (1874-1952) was the painting's first owner. In 1925 she made it available for the first time for an exhibition at the Vienna Künstlerhaus. In 1928, to mark the tenth anniversary of Klimt's death, The Bride was presented in a commemorative exhibition at the Vienna Secession, and in 1929 at the Modern Gallery in the Belvedere Orangery. In 1937 Emilie Flöge lent the painting for exhibitions in Paris and Bern. In 1943, during the Nazi period, it was shown at the Secession in Vienna as part of a Klimt retrospective. In the 1950s Gustav Ucicky (1899-1961), Klimt's illegitimate son with Maria Ucicka (1880-1928), acquired the painting. In 1957 he gave it to his third wife, Ursula Lena Ucicky (née Kohn) as a wedding present. In 1971 she made it available to the Austrian Gallery on loan. In 2013 Ucicky donated it to the nonprofit Klimt Foundation, which she helped establish. It has been shown regularly since then in Austria and abroad and is the object of intensive research.