Vienna Klimt Trip-Day 1

Judith

Knowing that we will be leaving Munich Germany in September of 2024, being a Klimt fun I had to squeeze in a trip to Vienna.

So we did.

My point in this blog is to share with you what I loved from each museums and some other artists that I stumbled along the way yearning for Klimt.
This is always the joy of going to museums. You learn new artists.

Also at the end I am going to consolidate what I loved and what I will be incorporating in my future artworks. I want to write them out so then I come back at it when packing is settled for once….lol

First let me give you the list of the must see museums for Klimt that I went with the admission price in 2024:

Secession €12

Belvedere €21.5

Leopold Museum €17

Klimt Villa €10

Wein Museum €12? Not sure as we had a free entry because it was the first Monday of the month;)

Albertina €21.5

Do bare in mind that we only had 3 days there and with a 3 year old meant I had to really chase Klimts paintings all around!

Secession

Being the one “sacred” place that Klimt felt he can do whatever he wanted without any old traditional critics meant he had freedom with his creativity here. Apart from the building being very Klimty, I realized that it was his tribe that he established this place with.

Once we went to the basement floor there was it. Here, his paintings are directly painted on the 3 walls that surrounds viewers and what made the painting exceptional was that you get to borrow head phones there that play "Beethoven Frieze." It was such a enriching experience.

The photos dont do justice because the place is quite dark.

What I specifically admired was his use of gold that had almost like a paint quality. But apparently he uses gold leaf… I suppose his father being a gold engraver added to his knowledge on the medium. Also his use of translucent feel of the womens clothes, the snake skin designs, and the use of white (wall) space at the beginning of the painting was beautiful.

The final key ephinanny moment was that klimt used different warma and cool contour lines for his subjects. Seeing the paintings up close in person made me realize this and took me back to Kelogsloops workshop where he taught us how he uses strong colors that seems to look out of place in random parts of the subject to add to the painting.

Belvedere

I found it. Judith. Has to be my favorite painting of Klimt. Ive painted this in my sketchbook with watercolor and appreciate it even more. What I like about it is again, the many different colors in the skin tone, the transparency/delicate touch of the clothing and the darkenss of the painting that you can see a dead mans head on the right bottom.

Although alot of people probably go to this museum to see Klimts most famous “The Kiss” (he titled it “Lovers” btw) didnt look that nice. I wasnt too sure until my partner came and mentioned it used to look way better when it was in the darker rooms at the museum. Apparently they have moved it probably so everybody can take a better photo standing next to it…. Not judging but come one, lets let the painting shine!

This painting is my second favorite from the museum. Title is “Fritza Riedler” painted in 1906. I probably got drawn to the warm oranges with neutrals and a 10% of that blue at the left corner. Also look at those Egyptian like designs like eyes! Its just beautiful.

This painting by Klimt “Mother with Two Children” was very touching. We dont know whether he knew them or not but there seems to be a possibility he stumbled across them on the streets. I sense from the painting he had some sentimental aspects and not just painted the rich but also had a heart enough to paint what he actually saw out there.

The Museum itself was beautiful I especially enjoyed walking up the stairs feeling like a princess heading over to Klimts paintings lol
I also saw some interesting sculptures done by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt that didnt look at all from the 1780’s. I thought these were more modern than that! Seems like he was interested in exploring the range of human emotions. Definitely unique work from the late Baroque period.
One last mention of Klimts work on the far right called Amalie Zuckerkandl. This was an unfinished work of his but it shows how he worked from the face first and then worked on the rest. The face clearly was the main focus of his paintings. The rest came later.

That was a lovely day 1 in Vienna. Off to writing about day 2….