Death and Life
1910–1915 · Oil on canvas · Leopold Museum, Vienna
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About this work
- Artist
- Gustav Klimt (1862–1918)
- Year
- 1910–1915
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 180.5 × 200.5 cm
- Collection
- Leopold Museum, Vienna
- Movement
- Vienna Secession
On the left, Death stands alone on a dark grey-green ground: a grinning skull above a robe of black crosses on blue and violet, a small club raised in one bony hand. Across the gap, sleepers drift together in a mound of pink, orange and green pattern: a mother and baby, lovers, an old woman, and a girl at the edge whose eyes are open. Klimt began the canvas in 1910, and in 1911 it won a gold medal at the international exhibition in Rome under the title Death. He reworked it more than once over the following years. It hangs in the Leopold Museum in Vienna.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Jewelled pinks and greens set against a near-black grey-green field and a skeletal figure make this a picture for a study, library or living-room wall. Pair it with Böcklin's Self-Portrait with Death Playing the Fiddle, hung at 24×36 in a black frame.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Vienna Secession painting
- Era
- 20th century (1910–1915)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- gold
- Mood
- grand
- Rooms
- living room, study or library, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, anniversary, her, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×36. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — dark wood flatters the lighter palette; black sharpens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Death and Life in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Death and Life painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
