'The Kiss' Remixed

Gustav Klimt famously used gold-leaf and real silver in his paintings. He was no stranger to innovative use of materials. 

'The Kiss', as well as many other famous works by Klimt, use a strange texture that shifts between flat, patterned, two-dimensional space...

...and more ‘classically’ painted three-dimensional faces. This was a bold artistic step, and paved the way for cubism and abstract expressionism. 

Klimt was in many ways a trailblazer. So if he was creating his iconic work today, do you think he would have done anything different? 

What would he have thought about the relationship between art and technology? VR artist Estella Tse poses just that question with her VR version of ‘The Kiss’, bringing Klimt’s sumptuous approach to image-making into contact with the most cutting-edge tech.

“Because of the inherent nature of VR, where there is literally another dimension to painting, it creates a new medium where depth and physical space become major components to the artistic medium. Painting in VR is like sculpting with strokes.”

A kind of inter-dimensional feel was important to Klimt in his own time, so it’s safe to assume that he’d be very interested in this application of his principles. 

But contemporary artists are not afraid to change and adapt the work of those who influenced them. Woojin Choi is a tattoo artist of increasing renown, and recently created his own version of ‘The Kiss’ with his needle. The image went viral online, and Choi’s work has gained immense popularity on Instagram.

Tattoos are known for being permanent. But they’re only as permanent as the body on which they’re drawn. Like Klimt’s painting, made as the 20th century ushered in a new Modern age, tattooing is both timeless and a reminder of time’s passing. A monument and a memento mori.

And, like Tse, Choi is attracted to Klimt’s work not only because of its mastery and influence, but because it feels adaptable and contemporary. As Choi says, “it can be transformed into many more different forms.”

Tse also touches upon this issue of transforming the original work. “As I was painting the couple, when a third dimension is included, it actually felt like the male figure was too assertively looming over the woman. It felt almost threatening.

In being transformed, Klimt’s art can also transcend many different boundaries. Tammam Azzam is a Syrian artist whose work responds unflinchingly to his country’s ongoing conflict, the local and global significance of such unrest.

“I found an emotional connection with his artwork. The way he used strong colours and the contrast between them is very effective, and it helped me convey the idea that I had in mind.”

...and the destroyed building behind it, which reveals the ugliest about humanity, was an effective way to make people think not just about the people who used to live in that building but also about the situation in Syria.” 

“‘The Kiss’ is an expression of love and an affirmation of life and I saw in it the liveliness and the loveliness of the people who used to live in the destroyed building behind it.”

Klimt's complex patterning across a flat surface, his movement between three- and two-dimensional registers, has inspired contemporary calligrapher, Seb Lester, to create lettering in the fin de siècle style as part of his ongoing Instagram project. 

And how might Klimt himself react if he could see the work of these young artists, inspired by his own creations? 

“It is hard to think what he would say,” says Azzam. “I hope he would appreciate the way his artwork has been used. But I am sure he wouldn’t be happy about the situation of the world at the moment.”

“I’m not sure!” replies Tse. “I certainly would and could never compare myself to the masters. It’s hard to imagine what he would say. I’m certain if he had VR technology, he’d be creating worlds beyond our modern imagination.”

Explore more about Klimt’s influence on Klimt vs. Klimt.