Gold
I love the color gold. I have a secret soft corner for it in my heart. If there is gold in a painting and even though it might not be a great painting by itself I will still give it extra points because it has GOLD. But my love for gold stops at the color, I mean I have no liking for gold jewellery at all. I wonder how many feel the way I do ??!!
Having been a student of art whenever I think of gold the first thing that comes to mind is Gustav Klimt and his gold period. Among many of the gorgeous paintings that he painted in that phase what floats above the rest is the painting “The Kiss”. I have admired and spent way too many hours looking at it in pictures and appreciating it and at times wanting to be in the painting itself. It is my dream to stand in front of the painting and witness its opulence and I know it will be an emotional moment for me.
The painting is one of my favourites not just because of the gilding but also for the feelings it evokes. The painting has mystical motifs and aesthetics similar to the Art Nouveau Movement. For me the painting is an essence of tenderness and passion.
The composition is iconic and has become the universal symbol of love. It has captured the intimacy and tenderness of an embrace so beautifully. And the gold leaf covered canvas gives the painting a sense of purity and divine status and transports us into an almost sacred space.
Standing at the edge of a meadow the couple are covered in a cloak and to me it seems like the mystic patterns on the cloak provide a magical protection and immortality to their love.
The two distinct motifs on their clock symbolising the male and female getting united as one and seamlessly mixing into one other. The shimmering background of gold acts as a cocoon for the couple who are giving into their desire unaffected by time or reality.
The painting appears flat but also three dimensional at the same time and that tension between the two gives the painting an almost out worldly quality. While not dwelling too much into the history and stories behind the painting, I will stick to what the painting means to me. Though the two are covered as they share this intimate moment the gold enhances the sensuality of the painting.
To me the word that captures the essence of the painting is “Vorfreude” it is a German Word which means to anticipate future pleasures. The moment captured in the painting is so fragile and intimate yet so intense it almost hangs in infinity.
People who have seen the painting in person say how the painting lives up to its expectations and is not disappointing at all. I too have thought of the moment and I know the last thing I will be is disappointed when I stand in front of this 6 feet x 6 feet gold subject matter- “The Kiss”.