Death and Life

Death and Life
Tod und Leben (German)
ArtistGustav Klimt
Year1910/11, reworked in 1912/13 and 1915/16
MediumOil on canvas
MovementSymbolism, Art Nouveau
Dimensions180.8 cm × 200.6 cm (71.2 in × 79.0 in)
Location

Death and Life (German: Tod und Leben) is an oil-on-canvas painting by Austrian painter Gustav Klimt. The painting was started in 1908 and completed in 1915. It depicts an allegorical subject in Art Nouveau style. The painting is now housed at the Leopold Museum in Vienna.

Description

The relationship of death and life is one of Klimt's central themes, central also to his time and to his contemporaries, among them Edvard Munch and Egon Schiele.

Themes of the artwork include the expectations preceding physical unions, serenity, aging, closeness of death, and youth.

1915 alteration

Death and Life (First Version); 1910–11, oil on canvas, 2,005 mm × 1,805 mm, Leopold Museum

Klimt made changes to the painting in 1915, after the first five exhibitions of the painting. He changed the background colour from golden to grey, and added some mosaics.

Exhibition history

In 1911 Death and Life received first prize in the world exhibitions in Rome. In 1912 Klimt exhibited the painting at an art exhibition in Dresden.

Further exhibitions of the painting took place e.g. 1913 in Budapest and Mannheim, 1914 in Prague, 1916 in Berlin, 1917 in Stockholm, 1917/'18 in Copenhagen, 1918 in Zurich and from 1923 several times in Vienna, 1958 in Venice, and 1965 in New York and London.

See also

References

External videos
video icon Klimt's Death and Life, Smarthistory
  1. 1 2 3 "Death and Life". Leopold Museum Online Collection. Retrieved 15 September 2026.
  2. ↑ "Gustav Klimt - Leopold Museum". www.leopoldmuseum.org. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  3. ↑ "Gustav Klimt, Death and Life". Leopold Museum. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  4. ↑ Bade, Patrick (1 July 2011). Gustav Klimt (in French). Parkstone International. ISBN 978-1-78042-283-1.
  5. ↑ Lightfoot, D. Tulla (21 February 2019). The Culture and Art of Death in 19th Century America. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-3518-7.
  6. ↑ Arnason, H. Harvard (1968). History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. H. N. Abrams.
  7. ↑ "Klimt, Death and Life (video) | Austria | Khan Academy". www.khanacademy.org. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  8. ↑ Bade, Patrick (1 July 2011). Gustav Klimt. Parkstone International. ISBN 978-1-78042-294-7.
  9. ↑ "Biography - klimt-foundation.com". www.klimt-foundation.com. Archived from the original on 17 November 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  10. ↑ Klimt, Gustav; Marlborough Fine Art Ltd. (1966). Gustav Klimt: paintings and drawings: [exhibition], October-November 1965, Marlborough Fine Art Limited ... [et al.]. London: Marlborough Fine Art Ltd. Archived from the original on 17 November 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  11. ↑ "Klimt's Death and Life". Smarthistory at Khan Academy. Retrieved 24 August 2025.