Gustav Klimt

Life and most important works

Beethoven Frieze

1 - Before 1 - Flying human figures (genii) that represent the idea of humanity's longings are flying up to the white wall

2 - Before 2 - Nude girls symbolizes ambition and compassion are on their knees behind a warrior who represent a kind of saviour from the figures in this wall that represent the forces of darkness

3 - Three sisters who were mitical Greek monsters (the most famous is Medusa)

4 - Sickness, madness and death

5 - Typhus (Zeus' son, with eagle wings and serpent-like body)

6 - Lasciviousness, wantonness and intemperance

7 - After 1 - Genii continuing to fly up to the white wall (represent a kind of salvation for mankind in the arts (figure playing a lyre)) conducting to the final part

8 - After 2 - Genii are vertical, the intense fulfilment represent Schiller's "Ode to Joy". In this ode, there is also a kiss that was represented by Klimt in 2 figures that embrasse each other and are in a golden "limbo" (choir in the final part)

Vasilij Vasil'evič Kandinskij

Composition 7

This opera is justly considered to be the apex of his artwork before the First Word War. More than 30 sketches made in watercolors and oil paints precede this painting, and they can serve as “documentary” proof of this work creation. Surprisingly that after the painter had finished his long preliminary work, the composition itself was created for 4 days only. This can be proved by photographs taken between the 25th and the 28th of November 1913.

Its most prominent feature is its lines, such as the six parallel lines in the middle of the image that resemble the neck of a guitar. What this painting represents, according to Kandinsky, is “the Flood,” meaning the biblical story of Noah. He attempted to distill the emotional, psychological, and spiritual essences of the story into a visual exploration of balance and harmony. About “Composition VI” he wrote, “the original motive of the painting (the Flood) was dissolved and transferred to the internal, purely pictorial, independent and objective existence”. Nonetheless, the painting still clearly includes some figurative elements, which tie its visual language to the external world.