>>24046820this is an evolution of Romanticism (which included the neoclassical revival of ancient pagan imagery), fused together with Ukiyo-E and Japonism through a Symbolist lens, and his middle-to-later Jugendstil work (like this work) through the Vienna Secession is understandably placed into the wider Art Nouveau canon, which makes it Modern Art (as distinct from the much-maligned Postmodern Art)
at the time, it was seen by the religious and conservative Viennese high society as crass, and pornographic, and Klimt himself was definitely not a religious man
he was not appreciated by them until later
this picture was controversial in its time
it depicts Danae, a figure out of pagan Greek Mythology, who's the mother of Perseus by Zeus
it's erotic, sensual, non-Christian, and it's beautiful
a golden rain pours between her legs as Zeus has sex with her, and she's clearly enjoying it very much
rarely in Christian art are such human feelings depicted, outside of similarly controversial works depicting the sexual ecstasy of St. Theresa, and yet it's something we all experience -- this is a failing of Christian art, to employ shame to hide certain aspects of the human experience and condition, and it's something that Modern art and onwards rectified
that's one thing it contributed to art
