From 15 Could to five October 2025, the Belvedere Museum presents an exhibition specializing in considered one of Gustav Klimt’s final two works.
Supply: Belvedere · Picture: Gustav Klimt: “The Bride” (1917-18), Klimt Basis, on mortgage on the Belvedere
In 1917, the final 12 months of his profession, Gustav Klimt began engaged on considered one of his largest work, the allegorical work The Bride. His surprising and untimely demise in February 1918 prevented him from ending this portray. A now iconic picture by Klimt’s favourite photographer Moriz Nähr exhibits The Bride along with Girl with Fan—itself the topic of an exhibition on the Higher Belvedere in 2021/22—within the painter’s studio in Vienna’s Hietzing district.
Klimt’s final studio units the scene for this exhibition with a highlight on the encounters that occurred there between the artist and essential individuals in his life. Sources embody reviews by his fellow painters Egon Schiele and Felix Albrecht Harta, the writings of Arthur Schnitzler and the Japanese artwork connoisseur Kijiro Ohta, along with accounts from Friederike Beer-Monti, who was portrayed by Klimt, and his patrons Eugenia (Mäda) Primavesi and Serena Lederer.
The Bride itself is the main target of the exhibition, contextualized with quite a few pencil drawings during which Klimt had rigorously labored out lots of the figures. Additional research could be discovered within the artist’s final sketchbook earlier than his demise. A wide range of those research are actually being proven to the general public, permitting direct comparability with the portray. As a part of the preparations for the exhibition, in-depth technical evaluation, together with X-rays, was carried out on the portray and the outcomes may also be introduced. Lastly, the exhibition may also relate the historical past of the portray from its creation to the current. It was initially within the possession of Klimt’s unwavering life companion and heiress Emilie Flöge. Later it was acquired by Klimt’s first illegitimate son Gustav Ucicky. Within the Nineteen Twenties the work was repeatedly proven at exhibitions. Following the incorporation of Klimt’s final allegory within the assortment of the not-for-profit Klimt Basis in 2013, The Bride has been on mortgage to the Belvedere since 2014.
