About this work
With full armour, a helmet on his head, and a lance in hand, the golden knight seems to ride undeterred along a golden path.
His magnificent armour, parts of the horse's bridle, and the path along the bottom of the painting consist of glimmering gold leaf — and traces of gold flakes even sparkle between the leaves of the dense foliage in the background.
The background is densely patterned and dark, which contrasts with the bright, floral foreground and contributes to the sense of depth and a dreamlike atmosphere.
Colourful flowers bloom at the horse's feet, creating a cheerful atmosphere, while white roses — a symbol of purity — appear in the space between the horse's legs, seemingly representing the knight's inner psychological world as it stands in confrontation against a snake, a symbol of evil.
The helmet itself is a pattern of circles inside rhomboids in patches of red and grey, based on the large helmets of the late 15th century. The composition is square — 100 × 100 cm, oil on canvas — giving it the measured, contained tension of a held breath.
In the painting, Klimt draws on the figure of the knight from *The Beethoven Frieze* (1901–02), isolating it as a symbol of constant struggle.
Though Klimt had already painted a golden knight in the *Beethoven Frieze*, presented to the public in 1902 for the 14th Secession exhibition, the two works vary — one is standing, one is on a horse; they face opposite directions; one holds a sword, the other a lance.
Through his abundant use of gold, Klimt highlights the historical character of this figure, which is in fact based on the equestrian statues in Venice and Florence of the early Renaissance.
The probable influence was Klimt's 1903 trips to Ravenna to see the Byzantine mosaics, which had a profound effect on his work — the painting carries a gorgeous mosaic quality, expressed in the exquisite bridle, lance handle, and helmet, as well as in the backdrop's rich stippling.
Exhibited at the 1903 Secession Exhibition, the painting was bought by the steel magnate Karl Wittgenstein — father of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein — and is now held in the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya.
Men rarely appear as protagonists in Klimt's
