User:Karmen Sun/sandbox

Measures
180 x 180 cm

Technique
Oil on canvas

Depository
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome .(Bought in 1912 )

Awards
Won the gold medal in International Exhibition of Art (1911), Rome.

History
In 1905, Gustav Klimt created ‘The Three Ages of Woman’, also known as ‘Mother and Child’. It was the artist’s first oil painting in the large scale category, and also his largest painting on canvas. The painting is an example of Klimt's symbolic and allegorial works. Just like most of his later symbolic works share these dark grounds, in sharp contrast to the continued brightly coloured decoration of the figures themselves.

He continued to paint such images right until his death in 1918. For example, his later work, Death and Life, which was begun three years later in 1908 , Klimt became absorbed with life and death after the death of his baby son, Otto, in 1902. After 3 years, he created this painting.

The figure of the old woman is based on a sculpture by Auguste Rodin (1840 - 1917), called The Old Courtesan also known as 'She who was once the Helmet-Maker's Beautiful Wife', which was exhibited in Vienna in 1901 as part of the ninth Secession exhibition. The show, devoted the works of Rodin, the painter Giovanni Segantini, and Klinger, had a lasting effect on Klimt, who was delighted when he was able to meet Rodin the following year during the sculptor's visit to Vienna. Rodin saw and praised the Beetjpvem Froeze; the admiration was mutual.

Context
The painting show a little girl in the protecting arms of a young woman, while beside them an old woman stands with bowed head. It is believed to represent three main stages of a woman’s life: infancy, motherhood, and old age. The mother with child on the right of the canvas is a stunning representation of the beauty and love of motherhood, as well as the stage of infancy The boyish beauty of the young woman with her hair surounded by flowers is a clear allegoria of spring. The baby and the mother have their eyes shut and seem to be floating in an ornamental colourful aura. She holds her infant in a warm, secure embrace, offering unconditional love. The sleeping child’s face shows content as a result of the overwhelming affection.

The left side of the canvas shows the last stage of a woman’s life, which Klimt chose to depict as a worn out, old woman, who is withering away. Her hand over her face and her face behind her long gray hair are not only implies that she has had enough of life, but also suggests that she needs to hide. The harsh, brown background that immediately captures the viewer’s attention symbolizes the ground, showing her body already half-buried.

The three figures are set on a decorative and colourful background surrounded by the spheric grey of the universe. However, this black background is unusual in Klimt's work up to this date. Another painting, called Death and life, started out with a gold background. However, Klimt was not happy with it and substituted a blue-black background in 1911.

Compliment
Over the years, “The Three Ages of Woman”, a remarkable painting, has ignited much controversy amongst women who view the art work as lacking in appropriate symbolism to the enduring strength of women. Many feminists believe that the painting’s subtle message is that a woman’s most significant role is a mother. Klimt s Three Ages of Woman has been shown throughout the world and is still a major attraction for art lovers everywhere. Klimt first large scale private allegory was one of his last. The Three Ages of Woman tried to show the frailty of life and the permanence of death.

The Artist
Gustav Klimt was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects. Klimt's primary subject was the female body, and his works are marked by a frank eroticism - nowhere is this more apparent than in his numerous drawings in pencil.

From his early works, Klimt caused uproar. His works were frequently taken down; the Nazis burnt some of them. His technique is fairly classical, but his subjects were scandalous; naked girls mingle with skeletons, sexuality expressed in all its forms. Ornament is all-pervasive in his work; from this background the bodies struggle to the surface. He was witness to the decadence of an entire society and the fantastic world that his paintings occupy testify to this by their collection of sex and death, while the audacity and freedom of his graphic style foreshadow modern art.

In response to his inability to overcome his fear of public speech, Gustav Klimt stated: “Whoever wants to know something about me--as an artist, the only notable thing--ought to look carefully at my pictures and try and see in them what I am and what I want to do.”