Couple in Bed Gustav Klimt Buy Art Prints Now
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Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 14, 2023
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The piece, Couple In Bed, was a pencil on paper sketch from a private collection, 1915.

The sketch illustrates a couple together, as their bodies are blended together, showcasing the outlines of their body.

Klimt's work is a translucent illustration of the allure of a couple in bed, using light pencil works to accentuate the outline of their bodies as they mend into one. The mysterious presence of the painting is manifested through the lack of details accentuating the piece, allowing for the viewer to reflect their own lives into the work.

As Klimt painted about life's most significant questions, the topic of the relationship between men and woman is an important concept the artist touched upon as illustrated within the sketch. Differing from the artists other work, the focal point of the sketch remains the man, as his masculine body shape covers the other individual.

The sketch offers an intimate feel, luring the viewer in as they analyze and ponder the significance behind the piece. His work symbolizes the freedom of art, as the imagery used within his work illustrates. Klimt's oil on canvas, and pencil on paper work, resonates today with an array of artists as his style if incorporated into modern pieces today. Every stroke of the pencil in Klimt's career is a visual adventure he seeked.

These soft sketches manifest Klimt's experiments with drawing, allowing his mind to wonder his exquisite draftsmanship and produce imagery that sparked his artistic side. The freedom to explore outside of the line enabled Klimt to bring life into the line as a breath of fresh air.

Gustav Klimt is one of the most famous painters of the 19th century, who uses eye-popping colour with an array of metallic textures. Klimt's father was a gold carver, who taught the artist how to work with the previous metal. Upon the completion of art school, the artist was hired to paint morals within a theatre. He transitioned his style to oil on canvas paintings based on the traditional realist technique at the time.

Throughout Klimt's career, his work entered a mosaic period where the artist used Byzantine textures from the medieval period to illustrate his work. The metallic bronze colours included tiny stone to create incredible patterns and symbolism throughout the work. This style within Klimt's work is referred to as his golden phase, a style the artist trademarked as his own.

Klimt believed that decorative art was just as prominent as fine art, and steered his artistic direction away from the realist dominance during his era to find his own stroke in art. The artist used bright colours and symbols throughout his work, creating the phase of art nouveau, which means new art. Klimt's strategic placement of patterns throughout his painted accentuated his work while bringing the viewers attention to an array of focal points within the work.