Exploring the Belvedere

My first impression of the Belvedere was not a good one.  They do not let you take pictures!  For the beginning of the tour I was so resentful that they would not let me take my camera in because it was such a beautiful palace.  I got even more upset as I realized that there were not even many objects in the rooms that could be damaged by flash so I truly could not understand why we were not allowed to bring cameras in.

After I, somewhat, got over the fact that I would not be able to document the Belvedere to my hearts content, I was able to appreciate how beautiful Prince Eugenes palace was.  The room that I was most struck by was the magnificent ballroom.    It was so easy to imagine all the parties and people that used to be in that room.  Also, the collection of bust by Messerschmidt was one of the strangest exhibits I have ever seen.  His mental disorders were clear in his art but what I was most impressed by was that even at his craziest, Messerschmidt still had such an impressive talent with sculpture.

The other art exhibit in the Belvedere that I was most struck by was of course the Klimt exhibit.  I actually like his earlier portraits better than his later works.  I am sure that this would have distressed or angered Klimt since this was not the style he was most known for or most proud of.  There is something about his portraits of the rich women he did before moving into his more modern and groundbreaking style that I just find captivating.  They are all so lifelike and yet they seem to glow from the inside.

Until I came to Vienna the only work I had ever seen of Klimt's was The Kiss.  While I liked this painting, I was never as impressed or enthralled as most other women seem to be.  During her discussion of The Kiss Dr. O asked us all some questions that I dont think anyone had ever considered about this painting before: What kind of kiss is it exactly?  Was it a tender kiss?  Was it a passionate kiss? Was the woman enjoying it or just tolerating it?  While I found this a very interesting question, there were several girls in our group who actually got quite offended by this.  They talked about how for so long this had been a picture which to them personified the beauty of love and passion and to have that called into question seemed to hurt their long held beliefs about The Kiss.  In the end, I came to the conclusion that maybe The Kiss is just a kiss.  Nothing more and nothing less.  I also think, that maybe Klimt painted the piece the way he did so that discussion and opinions like these would arise.  Just because one person sees one thing in a painting while another person sees something else does not mean that either of those people are right or wrong and that is the beauty of art.