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Gustav Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze, a major work of Viennese Modernism, was created as part of the Secession's Beethoven exhibition, which opened in April 1902. In this unique Gesamtkunstwerk (a work embodying a synthesis of the arts), created by 21 members of the association, architecture, painting, sculpture and arts and crafts temporarily combined to serve a single central theme. The latter was expressed in the monumental Beethoven sculpture by Max Klinger (1902), which took pride of place as a cult image in the central hall of Josef Hoffmann’s ultra-modern, temple-like interior. The essential factor for the Viennese artists was not only the colourful variety of materials in the main work of art, but also the complex iconography of the half-naked genius enthroned in the clouds, fighting and suffering alone for humanity. All the paintings and decorations were dedicated to the themes of struggle and overcoming, longing and redemption – above all Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze, which covered three walls of the side room to the left.
Klimt allegorised the highs and lows of human existence in clearly structured scenes, probably inspired by Richard Wagner’s ideas regarding Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The left-hand wall was dominated by the hovering figures of “The Longing for Happiness”, “The Knight in Full Armour” and “Weak Humanity”, while the central narrow wall showing the “Hostile Forces” provoked the audience with the garish eroticism of the “three Gorgons”, whereas the right-hand wall was devoted to “Poetry”, the “Arts” and the shining, golden “Ideal Realm” of love. This resplendent final section directly alluded to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, specifically the words “Joy, thou shining spark of God” and “Take this kiss throughout the world” (from Friedrich Schiller’s “Ode to Joy”, translated here from the German).
Using casein paints, black and coloured chalks, gold leaf, stucco applications, semi-precious stones, costume jewellery and other materials, Klimt worked directly on the bare plaster surfaces, developing a radically new language of lines – including in his drawings. In the studies he drew in 1901, he already internalised the connection between his figures and architecture by making the posers’ positions and gestures follow geometric laws and stressing their frontal and profiled positions. He emphasised the specific character of each of his figures by means of succinctly stylised outlines in black chalk. Each of the four drawings (cat.-no. 2–5) presented here, which were created for different figures, conveys its own unique mood.

The preparatory study shows – in an inverted image – the figure of the standing adolescent girl belonging to the group of figures on the lefthand long wall. This part of the programme is described in the catalogue as “The Sufferings of Weak Humanity”, followed by the words: “Its [Humanity’s] pleas to the strong, well-armed man [the Knight] as outer driving forces, and compassion and ambition as inner driving forces, which move him to take up the struggle for happiness.” What is striking is the difference between the figure of the girl and the kneeling human couple with their austerely geometrical poses and gestures. Whereas the adults express humility and seriousness, the delicate silhouette of the girl stands out as a free and natural figure against the light-coloured plaster background. Apart from a few details, the study largely corresponds to the painted figure in the frieze. With subtle, accurate lines in black chalk, Klimt defines the contours of the gaunt, angular body shapes, thus achieving a sympathetic characterisation of puberty.
(Marian Bisanz-Prakken)