Afina Pallada

In 1889 in the Austrian capital hosted the first exhibition of the Vienna secession. Following the German colleagues of the Austrian artists seceded from the semi-official Home of artists and organized their own Union to be able to create and present works of art that go beyond the dominant conservative style. As the Munich secessionists, the Viennese artists made her a symbol of the patron Athena Pallas. And at the very first exhibition in Vienna President of the secession Gustav Klimt presented a picture depicting a warlike Greek goddess.

Afina Pallada" is very different from other female portraits by Klimt. Sophisticated, highly sensual, sexually fatal beauties have become the hallmark of the artist. In contrast, Athena exudes power and authority, it is full of militant magnetism. Her shiny helmet, a gold breastplate and amazing live, burning fire of the eyes became not only a symbol of the struggle of secessionists for freedom of expression (the canvas so impressed the critics that Athena began to call "the demon of secession"), but some choice in the works of Klimt. It is with this picture began a new stage in creativity of the artist who was called "the Golden age" and gave the world most famous paintings of Klimt, written in inimitable style.

In Athena, which the secessionists chose as their patron, the artist was interested in the greater part of her divine essence, and not sexuality. This is not surprising, considering her sexual ambiguity in the Greek myths. The fact is that, despite the appearance belonging to the female sex, Athena is endowed with a mostly male qualities. According to some researchers, in this work Klimt alludes to the well-known theory about the close connection of the lust for power with sexual desire. Whatever it was, almost asexual goddess Pallas Athena was one of the strongest female images in the works of Klimt.

Author: Eugene Sidelnikov