Klimt's Study for the Painting "Schubert at the Piano"
In 1893 patron Nikolaus Dumba commissioned Gustav Klimt to design the architectural and painted decorations for the music salon of his Viennese town palace
Nikolaus Dumba sitting in his study (c. 1890)Austrian National Library
In 1899, Klimt painted the famous composer at the piano, surrounded by ladies. The completed painting, installed above the doorway with a width of 2 meters, burned down in 1945 in Schloss Immendorf. However, the painted draft (1896) has been preserved and is privately owned.
The theme was most likely suggested by Nikolaus Dumba, who greatly admired Franz Schubert.
Two Standing Girls, Holding Sheets in Their Hands (Study for "Schubert at the Piano") (1897-1898) by Gustav KlimtAlbertina Museum
The study of two young women with music sheets in their hands was likely created after the oil painting draft, during preparations for the large painting in a pointillist style.
In the paintings, Klimt's main medium was light. Klimt also plays with light in the study shown here, in which the two models do not dress in a historic style. The women in the painting wear fantasy clothing in the style of the Schubert period.
Here he uses congenial means to emphasize the chiaroscuro. Through dense concentrations of vertical lines, whose lively parallel course is interrupted in places, he merges the silhouettes of the two figures. They stand one behind the other as if emerging out of thin air.
This continuous, compelling rhythm of lines also incorporates the bent arm of the figure in front and continues up to the hairdos of the two women.
The skirt of the figure in the foreground is a bright void, as is her left hand and part of the sheet she is holding.
One actively involved element of the drawing is the negative space that stands out like an island between the two touching contours of their shoulders and heads.
This generously summarizing, planar depiction characterizes Klimt's drawing style during the founding period of the Secession in 1897/98. Using purely linear means, the artist internalizes the mood and essence of his figures, going far beyond the specific, purpose-oriented function of the studies.
