Artwork Gustav Klimt The Kiss 1907-1908 Dimensions 1.25" x 2" 3.5 cm x 5.5 cm About The Kiss The Kiss is one of the world's most recognized artworks. Painted between 1907 and 1908, it depicts a couple melting into a passionate embrace, their bodies entwined in beautifully elaborate robes. The Kiss is the final painting of Klimt's Golden Period. The painting wasn’t even finished before it was purchased by the Austrian government. It is considered a national treasure. Influenced by Japanese mosaics, the painting showcases the artist's signature gold leaf technique inspired by Byzantine mosaics in the Church of San Vitale in Italy. No one knows the identity of the man in The Kiss: he may be Gustav Klimt himself, however it is only conjecture. There is no evidence to prove this. About Gustav Klimt Gustav Klimt was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Art Nouveau (Vienna Secession) movement. No stranger to controversy, his primary subject was the female body, and his works are marked by a frank eroticism. While he created a wealth of paintings, murals, sketches, and decorative art objects over the course of his career, he is most well-known for the works he produced during his Golden Phase.