Death and Life - Gustav Klimt by Accessible Art

About "Death and Life - Gustav Klimt"

by Accessible Art

About the artwork

The Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt finished his gigantic allegorical masterpiece "Death and Life" in 1915. The artwork contrasts the magnificent, teeming energy of life with the terrible reality of mortality in a strong and colorful meditation on the never-ending cycle of human existence.
There is a dramatic division of the canvas into two parts. Death is depicted on the left as a skeletal grim reaper wearing a black, solemn gown embroidered with crosses. With a club in his hand, he is shown as a patient yet threatening spectator who looks over at the living.
The painting's right side, in sharp contrast, bursts with a colorful, entwined mass of humanity that stands in for Life. From a baby to an elderly woman, figures of all ages are nestled together in a sensuous embrace, their bodies covered with the vivid colors and mosaic-like patterns that are characteristic of Klimt's work. The global connection of love, family, and rebirth is symbolized by this human pyramid, which appears to float in an abstract space while being enveloped in a floral, ornamental form.
The figures seem calm, completely engrossed in the dream of life, and oblivious to the approaching presence of Death. The continuous dance between mortality and vitality is masterfully captured in Klimt's composition, which implies that although death is an unavoidable end, life itself is a rich, lovely, and interwoven celebration.