About this work
Six interlacing women form the heart of this canvas, each representing a particular stage of life, the whole composition turning on themes of love, sexuality, and regeneration arranged in a cyclical shape. At the centre, a girl sleeps peacefully beneath a blanket ornamented with flowers and spirals — to Klimt, someone asleep is not responsible for their desires, so he depicted an innocent virgin held captive by her sweet and luscious dreams. The surrounding figures press close in a dense, pulsating cluster, their pale forms barely distinguished from the riot of decoration that envelops them. The composition features a swirling arrangement of intertwined female figures, enveloped in richly patterned textiles that merge into a continuous tapestry of motifs, with Klimt employing a saturated palette dominated by purples and blues, accented with greens and reds, lending the work a luminous and hypnotic quality.
The abundance of flowers throughout the painting symbolises the evolution into womanhood.
Finished at the end of 1912 or the beginning of 1913, *The Virgin* is one of the decisive figural allegories of Klimt's late career — a summation of his overarching theme of female erotic dream states, in which he explores its various manifestations over life, from virginity to mature sexuality.
It is a prime example of Klimt's departure from his Gold Period: inspired by the colorful and emotionally expressive works of Matisse, Munch, and the Fauves, he opted for a kaleidoscopic style, having come to feel that gold was too rigid to communicate true emotion.
Together with *Death and Life* and the unfinished *The Bride*, *The Virgin* forms a trio of major figural works from Klimt's late period, bringing together the aspects that had defined his work for nearly two decades: life and death, and the image of woman.
It was acquired directly from the exhibition organised by the Deutschböhmischer Künstlerbund at the Rudolfinum Gallery in Prague in early 1914, and today it is held in the National Gallery in Prague, Czech Republic.
*The Virgin* rewards a viewer who wants complexity rather than comfort — who leans in rather than steps back. Its key Secession theme is the relationship between beauty and ephemerality, youth and mortality, the celebration of young life and the phenomenon of a woman's existence. On a wall, it holds its own in a room with strong light and plenty of space around it: the dense, jewel-toned palette — all deep violet, cobalt, and floral bursts of green and red — makes it
