Vase, inspired by "The Kiss" (1907) by Gustav Klimt: The artist of the "The Kiss", Gustav Klimt, was born in Vienna, Austria in 1862. Klimt studied at the Vienna School of Decorative Arts and shortly after opened a studio where he specialized in mural paintings. In 1897 Klimt founded the "Vienna Sezession", a group of artists/painters who disagreed and petitioned against the academic art and believed in a more decorative style. His first big art works, which were painted in the auditorium in the University of Vienna, were seen as scandalous work because of the nudity and erotica displayed, because of that he was harshly criticized. He later went on to paint his most famous paintings, such as The Kiss (1907) and Fritza Riedler (1906). Unfortunately in 1918 he died, at 55 years old, of a stroke and pneumonia due to the Spanish flu. Although his paintings were popular when he was alive they were no where near as valuable as they are today. 
     I choose this piece because I grew up with a large copy of it hanging in my living room and during a trip to Europe my family and I went to see the real thing. It was an amazing experience to see such a beautiful and, to me, meaningful piece of art. I have always loved all the different shapes Klimt uses and how it all flows together in a chaotic but beautiful way. Even though many people viewed his art as scandalous, I feel that he captured specifically the female body to a realistic standard and enhanced the curves and used the average body type.
     I love how this piece turned out because I was able to take one of my favorite art pieces and turn it into my own creation that I can have on my shelf. I think I was able to capture the shapes Klimt used and make it a messy piece that comes together to form a flowing piece. It was hard to paint the colorful flowers on the side since I had to paint them really small but I was able to get most of them to look the way I wanted. If I were to do this again I would probably add the vines and flowers that the two people who are kissing are laying in, I think it would make it more like the original piece. I love this piece especially since I have an emotional attachment to the original art piece, I can't wait to put flowers in the vase and really bring out the beauty of the piece. 


Sites used:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gustav-Klimt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Klimt#:~:text=Final%20years%20and%20death,-Adele%20Bloch%2DBauer&text=Klimt%20died%20three%20years%20later,Hietzinger%20Cemetery%20in%20Hietzing%2C%20Vienna.