Gustave Klimt "the kiss"

The Kiss is arguably Klimts most famous work. Like alot of his work this painting signifies the erotic, romantic love between a man and a woman. They are locked in an embrace, a kiss and surrounded by an aura of gold light around them as they are encased in the shape of an erect phallus.

For my piece I wanted to play with the idea of taking one of the most recognizable works of erotic heterosexual love and turn it into that of same sex love. I tried to keep my cover as close to the original, making it so that the only apparent difference was that it was two women, instead of a woman and a man. I even tried to make the new woman appear similar to the original man by keeping her hair dark and her clothing with similar ornamental decor. I found the outcome to be intriguing. I am not sure if it is the expressions on their faces, or the position of their bodies or what, but when I look at my cover I question whether the love is that of romantic relations or of a nurturing, sisterly love. I question if this outcome is related to the similar reaction to those of same sex relationships. You question whether they are friends, sisters and then maybe lovers. I think something that does add to the ambiguity in my painting is that the kneeling woman has almost a sorrowful expression on her face (unintentional) which gives off the feeling that the other woman is merely comforting her. All in all, I found this project enjoyable and I liked being able to cover one of my favorite artists. I like how my piece turned out and feel like I should cover it again to see if the outcome differs from the first.