The Kiss by Klimt

The official colours of Vienna are red and white. The unofficial ones are black and gold, the colours most associated with Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss, a truly iconic painting and perhaps the city’s greatest art treasure.

• Klimt’s most popular work, painted 1907-1908
• On permanent display at the Upper Belvedere palace
• Belvedere opens daily but is hugely popular most of the year
• See also:
  • Book Upper Belvedere tickets* online
    • Tip: advance booking a time slot avoids long waits
  • Best art in Vienna

Quick Upper Belvedere tickets

The painting

Klimt’s The Kiss seems to be everywhere in Vienna. It’s slowly taking over the souvenir shops. And anything Klimt-related usually has the painting front and centre.

(The Kiss; photo courtesy of and © Belvedere, Wien. Reproduced with permission under the terms of Creative Commons License CC BY-SA 4.0.)

I’m no art expert, so won’t wax lyrical on the meaning or composition of the work itself. Suffice to say that The Kiss has caught the imagination of the world.

Experts consider the 1907/1908 painting to be the most iconic example of Austria’s Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) period. But its fame and status has long gone global.

The work first appeared in public at a 1908 exhibition organised around Klimt and colleagues; the “Kunstschau” featured many of the stalwarts of the Wiener Moderne movement.

(Unknown photographer, Gustav Klimt and Emilie Flöge in a boat on the Attersee lake in 1909, not long after completion of the Kiss, Wien Museum Inv.-Nr. 157540; reproduced with permission under the terms of the CC0 licence)

Among the paintings on display and for sale that day: a composition by Klimt named the Lovers (the original title for The Kiss).

Such a painting deserves a mysterious and troubled history of purchases, with the occasional theft thrown in for good measure. I fear the reality is far more banal.

The Ministry of Education bought the picture (the ministry’s remit at the time also included culture) for the state’s Moderne Galerie collection at Lower Belvedere palace in Vienna.

And that was more or less it, because it’s still at Belvedere.

Klimt already has a couple of less-iconic works in the list of the World’s Top 20 most expensive painting sales, so you can only begin to imagine how much The Kiss is worth.

However, you can “own” part of the painting by buying one ten thousandth of the official digitised image from Belvedere as an NFT. Last time I checked, pieces were still available.

This is pretty much the most famous artwork in the entire country and one of the most famous in the world. So prepare to do battle by smartphone if you pick the wrong time to view it.

How can I see the Kiss?

(The rather fine home of The Kiss)

The original painting hangs on display in Vienna’s Belvedere complex.

The institution has several locations within the museum area, but you want Upper Belvedere palace; The Kiss makes up part of the permanent exhibition there.

You likely won’t be the only ones trying to see the masterpiece.

The crowd is nothing like those you get for the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, though. And The Kiss is quite large – about 1.8m by 1.8m – so easily admired from a little distance, if necessary.

Tickets and visitor tips

Here are my recommendations for visiting Upper Belvedere and Klimt’s prestigious work:

• Buy a ticket in advance*: this is so you can book a date and time slot that’s best for you. (I’d pick an early time so you have fewer visitors competing for space)

Such is the interest in the paintings at Belvedere that the museum introduced time slots to manage the visitor numbers.

There’s (obviously) a risk if you buy at the door that your allocated slot may involve a wait, especially in busy seasons. However, if you prefer to buy on site…

• Go early. I’ve often gone to Belvedere when it opens and enjoyed relative quiet, even around The Kiss

• Pick the right season: slower periods for tourism are:
  • Late January through to a couple of weeks before Easter
  • A week or two after Easter through to early/mid June
  • September, October and early November
  • …even so, Vienna is becoming ever more popular as a tourist destination all year round

• Don’t leave Upper Belvedere without taking a look around the wider exhibitions (all included in your entry ticket).

Quite apart from a whole number of other works by Klimt (including the almost-but-not-quite-as-famous-as-the-Kiss Judith), the permanent collection typically features art by the likes of Schiele, Rodin, Munch, Monet, and van Gogh, as well as remarkable portraits of Napoleon and Austria’s Empress Elisabeth.

On top of that, expect excellent temporary exhibitions at Upper Belvedere, too. With a serious dose of gorgeous Baroque architecture thrown in for good measure!