Klimt & The Kiss
Directed by Ali Ray
The Kiss by Gustav Klimt is one of the most recognised and reproduced paintings in the world. It is perhaps the most popular poster on student dorm walls from Beijing to Boston. Painted in Vienna around 1908, the evocative image of an unknown embracing couple has captivated viewers with its mystery, sensuality and dazzling materials ever since it was created. But just what lies behind the appeal of the painting – and just who was the artist that created it? Delving into the details of real gold, decorative designs, symbolism and simmering erotica, a close study of the painting takes us to the remarkable turn of the century Vienna when a new world was battling with the old.
Duration
1h 29m
Released
October 30, 2023
Cast0
Part ofThe Exhibition on Screen Collection
Includes Sunflowers (2021), Young Picasso (2019), Raphael Revealed (2021), Hopper: An American Love Story (2022), Cézanne: Portraits of a Life (2018), Pissarro: Father of Impressionism (2022), Mary Cassatt: Painting the Modern Woman (2023), Vermeer: The Greatest Exhibition (2023), Tokyo Stories (2023), Easter in Art (2020), The Danish Collector: Delacroix to Gauguin (2021), Frida Kahlo (2020), Leonardo: The Works (2019), Lucian Freud: A Self Portrait (2019), Van Gogh & Japan (2019), Degas: Passion for Perfection (2018), David Hockney at the Royal Academy of Arts (2017), Canaletto & the Art of Venice (2017), Michelangelo: Love and Death (2017), The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism (2017), I, Claude Monet (2017), The Curious World of Hieronymus Bosch (2016), Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse (2016), Renoir: Reviled and Revered (2016), Goya: Visions of Flesh and Blood (2016), The Impressionists: And the Man Who Made Them (2015), Rembrandt: From the National Gallery, London and Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2018), Vincent Van Gogh: A New Way of Seeing (2015), Girl with a Pearl Earring: And Other Treasures from the Mauritshuis (2015), Matisse (2014), Leonardo: From the National Gallery, London (2012), Klimt & The Kiss (2023), My National Gallery, London (2024), John Singer Sargent: Fashion and Swagger (2024), Vermeer and Music (2013), Munch 150 (2013), Manet: Portraying Life (2013), Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers (2024), and Dawn of Impressionism: Paris 1874 (2025).
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