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Two Reclining Female Nudes Embracing from the Right. Study for Water Snakes II, 2nd Version, 1905/06

Leopold Museum,
Vienna
Pencil on Japanese paper
37.4×56.7 cm

Artists

  • Gustav Klimt

    (Baumgarten near Vienna/Vienna 1862–1918 Vienna)

Unfortunately not on display at the moment
Alice Strobl associated this drawing with a comprehensive group of reclining female nudes which Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) created in connection with the 1906/07 reworked version of his painting Water Snakes II. The painting was first shown in its final version at the Vienna Kunstschau exhibition in 1908. As in the studies for the first version, Klimt varied the motif of reclining, often seemingly sleeping female nudes, frequently rendered as couples in embrace. In the present work on paper from the Leopold Museum, Klimt rendered the complex postures of the intertwined figures with terse contours. He further positioned the group close to the upper edge of the depiction delineated by the outlines of rectangular cushions – a motif that Alice Strobl encountered in several other studies belonging to this series. Along with this study, the Leopold Museum owns five further studies for the work Water Snakes II: Study for Water Snakes II, Study for Water Snakes II, Study for Water Snakes II, Study for Water Snakes II and Study for Water Snakes II.

FS

Object data

Artist/author
  • Gustav Klimt
Title
Two Reclining Female Nudes Embracing from the Right. Study for Water Snakes II, 2nd Version
Date
1905/06
Art movement
Art Nouveau, Symbolism
Category
Graphic work
Material​/technique
Pencil on Japanese paper
Dimensions
37.4×56.7 cm
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 1325
Inventory access
Contributed to the Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung in 1994
Selection of Reference works
  • Gustav Klimt. Die Sammlung im Leopold Museum, hrsg. von Tobias G. Natter/Elisabeth Leopold, Ostfildern 2013 (Bestandskatalog des Leopold Museum: Band 1).
  • Wien 1900. Sammlung Leopold, hrsg. von Diethard Leopold/Peter Weinhäupl, Wien u.a. 2009.
  • Alice Strobl: Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen 1904-1912, Salzburg 1982.
Catalogue raisonne
  • Strobl Bd. 2/1982: 1448
Keywords
woman/girlnudelying figure (fem.)(nude) female figureembracing/kissingpilloweyes closed

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

Nachlass Gustav Klimt, Wien (1918); (1)
Helene Donner, Wien (o.D.);
Dr. Rudolf Leopold, Wien (1957-1994); (2)
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (1994).

  1. Nachlass-Stempel »GUSTAV / KLIMT / NACHLASS« auf der Rückseite rechts unten
  2. Sonja Niederacher, Dossier zu Gustav Klimt. 26 Zeichnungen aus dem Eigentum von Helene Donner, 31.01.2018

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Search in collection

woman/girlnudelying figure (fem.)(nude) female figureembracing/kissingpilloweyes closed