The Kiss of Klimt at Belvedere

April 5, 2010

Today was a rainy day—perfect for museum-going—so we made our way back to the Belvedere palaces to see the art collections housed inside, which includes originals from Monet, Renoir, Manet and Van Gogh.  The highlight of the Austrian art display for many visiting tourists is the Gustav Klimt collection, which takes up two rooms and is the world’s largest collection of Klimt’s work.   I am a big fan of Klimt’s golden pictures, and found myself joining the other dozen or so mesmerized museum-goers standing in front of “The Kiss.”  I think I have established that I am neither an art connoisseur nor a museum-lover, but I did truly soak up those moments standing in front of the famous Klimt masterpiece.  The reproductions simply do not do it justice.

Prince Eugene of Savoy (the famous military commander and owner of Schloss Belvedere) was a confirmed bachelor until he died at the age of 72.  His military victories were many and were handsomely rewarded by the Emperor, so he amassed a great deal of wealth.  Prince Eugene apparently expressed the personal belief that a soldier should not marry because the relationship to someone who has a vested interest in one's life/safety compromises one’s ability to focus in a battle.  Since he was very wealthy and had no immediate family, he opted to spend his money on his houses/property and his art acquisitions.

I find Prince Eugene to be an intriguing character.  He was French, but pledged his loyalties to the Habsburgs after being rejected for military service in the French army by King Louis XIV at age 19.  He seems to have been a bit self-aggrandizing; he had literally a dozen or more portraits painted of himself, usually in military dress and overlooking some battle or another that he and his armies had successfully waged.  But to be fair, he was a great military leader who loved art so perhaps it is not surprising that he
would commission works featuring himself.  (Sort of like an after-the-fact photograph... before cameras were invented.)  He had no direct descendants, so his estate was passed on to his niece, Princess Victoria of Savoy, who sadly looked nothing like her name or a Disney princess (shocking!).  There are some things money just can't buy...   She was apparently an odd piece of work and they certainly were not close; I read that they never actually met because he had heard nothing but bad things about her.  (Which begs the question:  why not make pre-deathbed alternate arrangements for his palaces and treasured art collections?  I found myself wanting to research Austrian estate law of the 1700's...   But then the moment passed.   His embalmed heart must have at least winced when she immediately sold everything off at cut-rate prices.)  He must have been quite the entertainer, since he built Upper Belvedere specifically for that purpose.  How did he commute between his Upper and Lower palaces?  Did he walk?  Saddle up a horse?  Go by rickshaw?   If the Habsburgs had 1,000+ servants to run their household and their lives, how many did Prince Eugene require?   What's with the hair?  Is that a wig?  Isn’t long hair wildly impractical in the heat of a battle?  Why do his portraits all look the same... except different outfits and battles?  Such are just a sampling of the thoughts and questions that floated in and out of my mind all day – some far more legitimate than others...  :-)

But one thing is certain:  the man had good taste in palaces…