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Death and Life
Gustav Klimt · Symbolism & Art Nouveau
- Artist
- Gustav Klimt (1862–1918)
- Date
- 1910–1915
- Dimensions
- 180.5 x 200.5 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria
Death and Life shows, on the left, Death as a skeleton in a dark robe decorated with crosses, holding a club. On the right, a mass of human figures, babies, young women, a mother, a man and an old woman, are tangled together in sleep in a colourful, flowered cloud.
A closer look
Death looks across at the living with a grin, but most of them do not see him; they are absorbed in their dreams and embraces. Only one young woman seems to open her eyes. The figures represent all the ages of life, from birth to old age, held together as a single flowing whole. Klimt first painted the background in gold, as in his famous Golden Phase, but in 1912–15 he reworked it in a dark blue-grey, giving the picture a more sombre, modern feel.
More by Gustav Klimt
In this gallery
Famous works elsewhere
- Danaë 1907
- The Three Ages of Woman 1905
- Adele Bloch-Bauer II 1912
- Portrait of Fräulein Lieser 1917
- Insel im Attersee 1901