Gustav Klimt

'The Kiss'

1907

oil and gold leaf on canvas

Vienna, Austria

When he painted The Kiss, Klimt was 45 years old and still lived at home with his mother and two unmarried sisters. However, behind the respectable facade he was a man with a ferocious sexual appetite. Klimt fathered at least three illegitimate children and probably many more. He was obsessed by women and he had a fixation with redheads. It is no surprise that the woman in The Kiss has red hair.