Gustav Klimt: The Beethoven Frieze - by Joseph Leo Koerner & Sylvia Liska (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The definitive guide to one of Klimt's major works that helped define the Viennese Art Nouveau

Gustav Klimt's Beethoven Frieze (1902) is the supreme monument of Viennese Modernism. It is here, in his largest and most ambitious work, that Klimt launched his famous motif of the kiss and his signature color: gold. Although the work is now one of the most visited tourist destinations in Vienna, it was inaccessible to the public for decades. Originally intended to be an ephemeral work, the piece passed among many hands, deteriorating in quality along the way, before it was acquired by the Republic of Austria and treated to a 10-year restoration process. This volume honors the legacy of this landmark painting, featuring generous, varied reproductions of the work alongside four interdisciplinary essays by renowned scholars that explore the enduring relevance and cultural-historical context of Klimt's large-scale wall cycle.