Look beyond the bling to see some of Gustav Klimt’s greatest art works

May 29 2008 by Laura Davis, Liverpool Daily Post

One of the stunning Gustav Klimt painting at the Tate entitled

BLING has always gone down well in Liverpool, so a show of Gustav Klimt’s gilded canvasses is a fitting celebration for the city’s Capital of Culture year.

Some of the best known are here, with a few notable exceptions, brought together from all over the world, from closely-guarded private collections and the walls of museums.

This is the first time these particular works have been placed together in the UK and it could well be the last – their age and ornateness making safe transportation difficult.

Even without this knowledge, or an appreciation of the Austrian artist’s background, it would be impossible to view this exhibition without feeling you are witnessing something truly special.

Although the eroticism of Klimt’s works led to accusations of obscenity during his life, today they are comfortably mainstream – The Kiss on posters decorating student bedrooms and printed on businessmen’s ties.

But familiarity does nothing to dull the experience of seeing these paintings in real life – standing close enough to make out each brushstroke, or far enough away for the flurry of dashes to transform into a porcelain-faced baby swaddled in a pile of fabric or a tree laden with russet apples. Nor is this a straight-forward exhibition of paintings, but one that sets Klimt’s works in context with his life and influences, not least a long-standing collaboration with the designer Josef Hoffmann, who created extravagant interiors for some of the artist’s patrons.

The families who commissioned Klimt’s works take a main role in the gallery’s story of his life. Eugenia Primavesi, the wife of a rich banker, is the subject of one of his best- known portraits.

Her expression is calm, her lips pursed as though waiting for a confession, and while her hands and face are realised with photographic precision, her dress is a swirl of brushstrokes in vivid yellows, reds and pinks that surround her body, posed as if for a memento mori.

Perhaps most surprising for visitors less familiar with Klimt’s body of work will be his painterly images – his Portrait of Joseph Pembauer (1890) and Portrait of a Lady (1894). if it wasn’t for their dates of origin, both could be mistaken for modern photographs.

Many of his sketches are also included.

And there are photographs of Klimt, too, his hermit’s robes contrasting with the luxury of his gemstone and gold embellished works.

It is the bling that most people will come to see and bling they will get, glinting between the naked bodies in the Three Ages of Women and beneath Judith II’s jaded expression.

But they will leave with other images etched into their memories – like the twisted hands of a betrayer.