ISO More Klimt at the Belvidere

So, I got on the right train and got off a the right stop.  The right stop, unfortunately was in the midst of a huge construction project, so I had to figure my way on to Prinz-Eugen-Straβe...which I did with my trusty Streetwise Map.  It was a further hike than I thought, but I made it.  The Belvidere is yet another Hapsburg summer palace which has now been converted to a museum: http://www.belvedere.at/en.


The Belvidere is 3 separate buildings...the Upper Belvidere, Lower Belvidere, and the 21er Haus. I opted to visit only the Upper as it was around 3 when I got there...and I was mainly there to see Klimt. Oh and most of the special exhibits too celebrate his 150th birthday don't happen until next month...phoey!


Got my ticket and wandered around outside for a few getting my photos of the outside of the palace.

And this isn't even the prettier side.   

Gotta love me some statuary of mythical creatures.  Although generally too GOLD for my tastes, there are elements of the Baroque period that I like.

Just look at the faces on those guys...it's like they really are holding up the roof.

This is the view of the park and gardens on the prettier side.  We enter the museum on this side and there are no photos allowed inside the building.  That was a bummer, not just for the sake of the artwork in there, but the building itself and the views from the windows...just awesome.  I especially loved the entry staircase.  Everything a palace should be.


Anyway, this is the building where Klimt's The Kiss is housed.  Although the Belvidere does have an extensive Klimt collection, I think most of it wasn't available for viewing.  They were likely putting together the exhibit for next month.  There were a couple of  pre-gold period paintings of gardens and houses.  I particularly remember a deathbed painting that was very moving.  But the main attraction is The Kiss.


I will personally admit to being very impressed.  Unlike the paintings in The Vienna Museum, it was very bright and colorful...and very LARGE...not to mention...square.  I never realized it was square before.  I think that many of the times we see it on posters, mugs, umbrellas, t-shirts....it has been cropped.  I spend a lot of time in that room with that painting.  It was totally weird, but I was really drawn to the fingers and, especially, the toes of the woman in that painting.  They were oddly delicate...almost too much so.  


In another room with Klimt's later paintings, there were 3 unfinished paintings he was working on when he died.  One, entitled The Bride was actually still on his easel on the day he passed away.  The only finished painting the Belvidere had of his later works was Adam and Eve (well, the only one on display anyway), which I did find really fascinating.  You could barely see Adam in the background...he was a dark and mysterious figure.  


Lots of other paintings were seen as well.  Baroque portraiture, the usual religious art...as well as a selection of more modern Expressionism and Impressionism.  Yep, there were a couple of Monets...aren't there always?  Actually there was a portrait that I did like...I don't usually like his portraiture, but this happy baker made me smile (so much so that I bought a magnet in the gift shop).  There was also a Renoir of a bathing lady that I also found very lovely.  


I wandered and re-wandered around the building for a bit and very much enjoyed myself.  Headed down to the gift shop...decided to go to the main gift shop instead and headed out.  I did get a Klimt poster...but one of a garden with sunflowers.  Along with my magnet, I got a book of the Belvidere collection and a little lampshade thing you put over a wineglass...and when you put a tea light in the wineglass you have a nifty candle lamp of....The Kiss. I wanted something Kiss-ish...but nothing normal.  Almost...but ALMOST got an umbrella.  But I already have a Dali umbrella...so I don't need competing artist umbrellas.


Headed back out to the pretty side of the palace and took more photos

I found the alligator wrestler particularly bizarre and interesting.  That building behind it, at the end of the path, is the Lower Belvidere.

Here's the pretty side of the Upper Belvidere.  This is a busy city park...lots of joggers through these gardens. I think they like it because bikes are not allowed.  Bikes are popular in this city and get their own lanes on the sidewalks.

Lots of fountains in this part, but most of them were shut off by the time I got out of the Museum.  The cascade was still running though...

Another distant view of the Upper Belvidere from right in front of the lower.  Yes, it is quite a walk! To get back the UBahn station I had to retrace my steps from the Upper....so back to the top of the gardens I went.  


Then the long hike through the streets to the station and back to my apartment.  I had leftover soup for dinner and may have a bit of bread.  I am going to try AGAIN to get to sleep early as I have to get up around 5:30ish tomorrow.  I meet the bus around 7:15 or so in front of the Opera house (pretty sure how to get there) and they tell us to get there early.  Hahahahahah...