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Design for a Curtain of the Municipal Theater Karlsbad

Gustav Klimt1884/1885

Belvedere

Belvedere
Vienna, Austria

The oil sketch by Gustav Klimt was one of several designs by Klimt from 1884 to 1885 for the curtain of the Municipal Theater Karlsbad. It was completed by his proven artists' collective with brother Ernst Klimt and fellow student Franz Matsch. At the time, all three acted together as an "artists' company." The commission for this work was given by Viennese architectural firm Fellner & Helmer, a company responsible for constructing theater buildings that had also designed the Municipal Theater Karlsbad. The style of Fellner & Helmer's theater buildings was primarily influenced by the splendor of late-Baroque palaces. Gustav Klimt and his two associates also adapted this style into their theater curtain and designed it as an opulent, pompous composition. Inside a meticulously decorated frame in a rococo style appears a scene on a stage with multiple characters. It shows a procession with no clearly determinable theme. Additional character scenes emerge in smaller panels inside the frame. The theater curtain fits the Baroque character of the theater hall well and seems to meet all expectations of both the architects and the theater visitors.

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