This is The Kiss, by Gustav Klimt. I've loved this since I could remember! Even did a project for school about him, ha ha!
At first glance it looks one-dimensional but as you continue to look at it, things start to pop. You notice that the couple on the embankment become the foreground and the gold shimmer the background. The layering of the strokes, in and of itself, give the background texture, almost like the feeling of a hot summer's night.
The flowers of the embankment take on a life of their own, almost like the movement of being softly blown by the wind.
She becomes more three-dimensional - her face, her hands, her feet. She totally looks loved and safe in his embrace.
The blanket that surrounds them has squares on the outside but circles on the inside - the square is structured, rigid but the circle is soft and free flowing - maybe to show the viewer that the blanket protects the embrace but has a softness on the inside.
*You can also see the latter on her dress, made up of circles in juxtaposition - a women, by tradition, is represented as delicate - further defining the circle as something of soft quality.
I love the struggle between the two- and three-dimensionality of the painting, but I am also captured by the softness of the love shared between the couple ... ah, I'm such a mush-ball! LOL
This is what I did for my class project.
I created this book cover in my first year of school, for an ad and layout class, I think ... LOL ... it was so long ago! It's fun to look back at some of the work I did then, it's when I truly see growth. I guess we all have to start somewhere ;)
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