Prior to ‘The Kiss,’ Gustav Klimt Received His Initial Major Art Commission at This Austrian Theater. Now Guests Have the Opportunity to View His Ceiling Murals Up Close for the First Time
In his youth, the artist who would later gain fame for incorporating gold leaf into portraits was awarded a Golden Cross of Merit by an emperor for his contributions to Vienna’s Burgtheater
The artwork on the ceiling of the Burgtheater illustrates the history of Western theater.
C.Stadler/Bwag via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 4.0
The most sought-after ticket in Vienna currently offers an opportunity to scale some scaffolding.
Vienna’s Burgtheater is providing tours of its towering 60-foot-high ceiling, where for the first time, the public can view some of Gustav Klimt’s early artworks up close.
Klimt, alongside his brother Ernst and fellow Austrian Franz Matsch, produced 10 oil paintings for the theater’s ceiling between 1886 and 1888—Klimt’s first significant commission.
“What’s remarkable about Klimt, at least for me, is that we primarily know only his later works,” remarks Hannes Höllinger to the Associated Press’ Philipp Jenne. Höllinger participated in one of the recent Klimt tours and states it “was fascinating to realize that at just 24, he created these incredibly beautiful paintings which I had not seen before.”
Klimt, his brother, and Franz Matsch included themselves in one of the artworks on the ceiling of the Burgtheater. PictureObelix via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 3.0
Klimt was born outside of Vienna and trained as an architectural painter, but following the deaths of Ernst and his father in 1892, he transitioned to a more personal style. Much of his most renowned work emerged during his “Golden Phase” in the 1890s and early 1900s, during which he often incorporated gold leaf in his portraits of upper-class women.
“Klimt embodies the fin de siècle Austrian Modernism more than any other artist,” stated Austrian auction house im Kinsky in a press release after a lost Klimt painting was found. “His work, especially his portraits of successful women from the upper-middle class at the century’s turn, has gained the highest acclaim globally.”
Indeed, today, Klimt’s works are displayed extensively. One portrait made headlines last fall as the most expensive piece of modern art ever sold at auction.
“The position of Klimt is akin to a sort of revered figure in Vienna’s cultural sphere,” remarked Wolfgang Kos, the former director of the Wien Museum, to the New York Times’ Nicolai Hartvig in 2012.
Fun fact: Musical masterpiece
Vienna’s Burgtheater premiered several operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, such as The Marriage of Figaro.
Less is commonly known about Klimt’s earlier works, like those exhibited at the Burgtheater. The paintings portray scenes from the history of Western theater, spanning from ancient Greece to the 1800s. One painting, which shows Queen Elizabeth I observing Romeo and Juliet at the Globe Theater, features the three artists in the audience and is Klimt’s only verified self-portrait.
The Burgtheater was established in 1741. In 1776, Joseph II designated it as the German national theater. It reopened in its present location in 1888 after the completion of the paintings. Franz Josef I presented Klimt with the Golden Cross of Merit for his contributions to the theater.
“If you describe Klimt as an interior decorator, you must use the term in the most positive sense,” stated Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, the former director of MAK, Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts, to the Times in 2012.
The Burgtheater is presently undertaking restoration of the paintings due to water damage, and the scaffolding (along with tours) will remain until August.
“We were permitted to invest several hundred thousand euros to restore Gustav Klimt’s original brilliance,” Burgtheater commercial director Robert Beutler shared with the AP. “Every piece is meticulously cleaned by hand with very fine cotton swabs and condensed water.”