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The Girlfriends
(1916)
Gustav
Klimt's art is considered erotic. Gilles Néret says of Klimt:
"Woman is his all-absorbing theme: he paints her naked, gloriously
adorned, or even in the most intimate position; ready to kiss and be kissed;
in ecstasy, or in voluptuous expectation. ...He catches woman in the pose
that excites him and moving him in a way that stirs his libido. And
as we observe that results of his work, the body of a female on a couch
with all her natural sensuality and secret activities revealed, we too
become voyeurs; making us accomplices"
In fact Klimt was so attached to the female psyche that he
does not hesitate to depict woman's love for another. In this picture we
see the incarnation of this theme of lesbian love once again since Water
Serpents.
This particular painting shows two women side by side.
It is subtle: the woman on the left is naked – her pubis showing,
and her breasts protruding. What gives her away is the enigmatic smile
she wears as her head leans toward the other woman who herself, despite
being so reserved, reeks of some inner bliss.
Klimt was a lover of the Japanese art form where the erotic
tension which grips the viewer arises from the interrelation between what
is revealed and what is concealed. In this picture we see the hand
of one woman, and the forearm of the other. But what we don't see
are their other arms and hands. Are they clasped? Are they entwined?
No one knows, and it disturbs us to no end. Again, as in most of
Klimt's works, the painting is ironic. In this case, it is the hidden
detail that exposes the true nature of the picture.
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