Gustav Klimt The Kiss Girl, 1903 artwork Jigsaw Puzzle 1000pcs 70*50cm

The Kiss is Klimt’s most popular work and visitors flock annually to see it in Vienna’s Austrian Gallery. At a remarkable 72in x 72in (180cm x 180cm), its powerful presence resounds from the wall as the life-size figures, wrapped in gold, embrace.

In 1903, Klimt traveled twice to Ravenna, where he saw the mosaics of San Vitale, whose Byzantine influence was apparent in the paintings of what would become known as his “Golden Period”. The use of gold harked back to Klimt’s own past, to the metal work of his father and younger brother Ernst, who had both died a decade earlier. Klimt’s interest in the Byzantine period also symbolized a move towards greater stability, through static, inorganic forms; suggesting a search for refuge after the artist’s exploration of the instinctual powers of archaic Greece. The Kiss representing the apex of his “Golden Period,” this concludes similar thematic studies during his career, such as The Beethoven Frieze, and The Tree of Life. Each work aids final comprehension of the allegory, which represents the mystical union of spiritual and erotic love and the merging of the individual with the eternal cosmos.