LEGO Art 31221 Gustav Klimt – The Kiss revealed!

Wow, indeed one of the best. The price is a bit on the high side, although the details are so rich that I guess you have to literally pay the price for all those studs

The design is really cool, but $300...? And the build looks a bit tiresome; I wouldn't want to be putting together that background.

That looks like a nightmare to build. Just 1x1's over and over for so long. But I know people who thrive with such builds, so that's good for them. For me this would be a punishment rather than good time.

I'm impressed - if I didn't have severe Lego fatigue (due to other reasons and priorities) and can't get myself motivated to build anything to finish no matter how cool the set, this would be a day one buy for me.
I'm considering to buy this and keep it stored for far later, hoping motivation comes back one day, but even storing lego feels so insignificant.

I can't tell what it is.

No wait, I can - it's a parts pack, and it will serve my MOC purposes nicely.

This is amazing. It's also very big!

It's been my wife and I favourite painting. I might get it, although it's very expensive.

That actually works.

@Sandinista said:
"This is a mess and I can’t tell what I’m supposed to be looking at "

Dog vomit on a piece of cardboard I think.

It looks very good, but there seems to be one crucial detail missing: where are the woman’s eyes and mouth? I can only see her eyebrows.

@Crux said:
"But Klimt is probably the second-best known painter from Austria (and a lot more succesful at it than the other guy)."
You got me thinking there for a moment......but yeah, there was indeed that other guy. Why hasn't he gotten a Lego set yet?

Lego has done a wonderful job.

I'm sorry but I need to rant / I need assistance. I'm on Reddit "discussing" about this amazing piece with a few people. A bunch of them have been thinking that the ORIGINAL painting in the museum is worth less than $300. Someone even said he bought it from the museum for $250. WTF? The only reasonable person (who claimed that it's worth MUCH MORE) has been downvoted heaps. I'm the only one supporting him and being downvoted as well. That's just ridiculous. If any of you could spare a minute PLEASE come and leave some fair comments. Thank you so much!!

https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/1uxcu9y/comment/oxqxvfd/?context=1&screen_view_count=12&sort=new

My only quibble is my personal Art-themed Conspiracy Theory is that I’m firmly convinced Emilie Flöge should get a collaboration credit for most of Klimt’s paintings of this style because, well, look up her work and it seems likely what he was using as references for the fantastical garments.

Otherwise this is a very impressive and instantly recognisable recreation of one of the most famous paintings in the world.

No comment on the comment section.

@WizardOfOss said:
" @Crux said:
"But Klimt is probably the second-best known painter from Austria (and a lot more succesful at it than the other guy)."
You got me thinking there for a moment......but yeah, there was indeed that other guy. Why hasn't he gotten a Lego set yet?

"

I also had to think for a moment!
Maybe the other guy was too much into military to get a LEGO set?

@UProbeck said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @Crux said:
"But Klimt is probably the second-best known painter from Austria (and a lot more succesful at it than the other guy)."
You got me thinking there for a moment......but yeah, there was indeed that other guy. Why hasn't he gotten a Lego set yet?

"

I also had to think for a moment!
Maybe the other guy was too much into military to get a LEGO set?
"

I was about to say “and hey there’s also (famous painter actually known primarily for painting) Egon Sch-“ and then remembered that there are definitely fine artists in this world that one should not be mentioning on Lego blogs that aim for family-friendly. Not that he’s quite at The Kiss level of ubiquity, but then not many artists are.

I think it looks great. I love the art series so far.

Wonderful.

@gearwheel said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"And for that money you can also get the actual painting!
(well, maybe not quite....)"

Calling that an understatement is itself an understatement :P

We're talking Klimt here, his works fetch some of the highest prices at auction on the planet. This is arguably his most famous work, so a quarter of a BILLION USD may be lowballing it. I'm not exaggerating - once of his lesser-known works sold last year for US$236 million."

Obvious joke hopefully was obvious? ;-)

A great representation of the original but, for myself, I'll stick with Sunflower or Elvis for Lego art. Maybe once it's 50% off I'll be more tempted!

Absolutely stunning!

Guess I'm in the minority here as I just don't like it. While its better than the previous Monet attempt, this still looks like a kids fingerpainting version of the origional to me.

There is some interesting NPU here, but when the vast majority of pieces seem to be single studs and tiles, not sure that the value is that good...

One of the main reason I like Lego is because, to me, it is a learning tool. It teaches, amongst other, simple mathematics and spacial perception. As a bonus, it is really fun to use the medium for all sorts of thing. When Lego releases sets like 'Arts' or 'Botanicals' or 'Homage to famous people (mostly gwps)' or even NASA sets, I like it even more because you get to learn something you might not normally seek to learn on your own (and then, there are NZFlags reviews!). I've heard the painter's name and the painting name but now I can make the association and know a little bit of his story. This is not my style of art but very happy for those who feel something strong from it.

@Crux , @WizardOfOss , @UProbeck I was wondering who you might be talking about. So I did a search of the most famous Austrian painters and I got this list (in order): (1) Gustav Klimt, (2) Egon Shiele, (3) Oskar Kokoschka, (4) Angela Hitler, (5) Koloman Moser, (6) Hans Makart, (7) Peter Fendi, (8) Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, (9) Raul Hausmann and (10) Friedrich von Amerling.
I am not familiar with any of those (except Klimt). While I'm certainly familiar with the last name of 4 , I have never heard(seen) of anything from her. So, as it is, I still don't know who is more famous than Klimt but less successful than him.

@HOBBES said:
" @Crux , @WizardOfOss , @UProbeck I was wondering who you might be talking about. So I did a search of the most famous Austrian painters and I got this list (in order): (1) Gustav Klimt, (2) Egon Shiele, (3) Oskar Kokoschka, (4) Angela Hitler, (5) Koloman Moser, (6) Hans Makart, (7) Peter Fendi, (8) Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, (9) Raul Hausmann and (10) Friedrich von Amerling.
I am not familiar with any of those (except Klimt). While I'm certainly familiar with the last name of 4 , I have never heard(seen) of anything from her. So, as it is, I still don't know who is more famous than Klimt but less successful than him.
"

Well, you got the family name right there......not sure if the two are related though....
(EDIT: yes, she was his half-sister)

To be fair, he didn't get famous for his art, but rather for other......talents.

@HOBBES

They’re joking about Adolf Hitler, who wanted to be a painter in his youth, but is not famous for being a painter.

@Crux said:
"I love Klimt's work, and all jokes aside, I think this is a pretty good rendition of his work. That said, I don't think I'll be getting this. I already have a reproduction of "The Kiss" in my study, and I don't need a second one.

It's fine if you don't like this. Art is after all, subjective. But Klimt is probably the second-best known painter from Austria (and a lot more succesful at it than the other guy). Meanwhile, I'm struggling to think of a painter from the US who is quite as influential or as prolific.

I don't think ChatGPT counts, but I fear a lot of other people might."

What about the American who did the Dogs Playing Poker paintings?

@HOBBES said:
" @Hiratha said:
" @HOBBES

They’re joking about Adolf Hitler, who wanted to be a painter in his youth, but is not famous for being a painter."

I see, thanks. Normally I pick up those references but his 'work' is so awful that it overshadows anything ok-ish (I've seen his paintings and it's not all bad) he might have done by miles and miles.
The main benefit I can associate with this guy is: a lesson learned that we should never repeat ever again. And yet, here we are again with those ideologies spreading like wildfires. "

Personally feel the only worth his paintings have are, 1. a pretty good lesson on how not to do perspective (but not as fantastic as Hogarth’s Satire on False Perspective, which also has the benefit of doing it on purpose), and 2. to be mentioned in a pretty good episode of Justified.

Her mouth is quite clearly defined in the original artwork, but totally absent in the LEGO rendition. Couldn't they have made it with a red 1x2 plate sideways for example? That would have made it much better, I think.

Otherwise, this is quite well done.

@King_J said:
" @Snowy_Tabbert said:
"Lego has done a wonderful job.

I'm sorry but I need to rant / I need assistance. I'm on Reddit "discussing" about this amazing piece with a few people. A bunch of them have been thinking that the ORIGINAL painting in the museum is worth less than $300. Someone even said he bought it from the museum for $250. WTF? The only reasonable person (who claimed that it's worth MUCH MORE) has been downvoted heaps. I'm the only one supporting him and being downvoted as well. That's just ridiculous. If any of you could spare a minute PLEASE come and leave some fair comments. Thank you so much!!

https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/1uxcu9y/comment/oxqxvfd/?context=1&screen_view_count=12&sort=new "

I was with that guy. I told him not to spend so much on a painting but he haggled them down pretty far. Hard to pass up a museum piece at that price."

So you were the friend who was there and replied to my comment on Reddit. I can't believe there're even a few morons here liking your post. Art museums produce and sell REPLICA/REPRINT of their famous artworks which are worth millions. Were you even visiting Belvedere Museum properly or were you just browsing at their shop? "Hard to pass up a museum piece at that price" I could laugh at this for days. Only if I haven't lost a lot of Reddit Karma by standing up for the truth but being downvoted by lots of morons.

The ORIGINAL painting The Kiss is still being displayed at the museum. I'm going to post the screenshot of their painting reproduction page on Reddit (can't do it here unfortunately). I've even written to Belvedere Museum about this matter. It is defamation to them and to Lego. They would sort it out accordingly.

https://print.belvedere.at/en/

Personally I think Klimt is an interesting choice for Lego art, given that some of his other work would be a little too racy for Lego to reproduce.

They've captured the original artwork well, even though the original was pretty awful.

@Crux

Joking in the sense of an exchange with a humorous tone, rather than in the sense of things not being true, relevant or important.

@BLProductions

I suggest you look up the history of “degenerate art” and maybe reconsider writing of your personal taste, or thinking of it, in a way indistinguishable from such, because honestly that second paragraph… woof.

@fredrigl said:
"Her mouth is quite clearly defined in the original artwork, but totally absent in the LEGO rendition. Couldn't they have made it with a red 1x2 plate sideways for example? That would have made it much better, I think.

Otherwise, this is quite well done."

I agree; a vertical 1x2 red plate would have been better. And while at it, I would have picked flame yellowish orange for the woman's dress to distinguish it better from the man and his cape/garment - as it is on the original (the yellow seems to be the same but there are so many small lines that make er dress stand out).

If anyone is interested there is a movie "Woman in Gold" starring Ryan Reynolds about the painting of the same name. Gives a good history of Klimt paintings.

I love the set, and it will be a day 1 purchase for me. Guess I will have to rearrange my "art" gallery to fit this one in.

@Crux said:
" @Hiratha said:
" @HOBBES

They’re joking about Adolf Hitler, who wanted to be a painter in his youth, but is not famous for being a painter."

No one's joking here, I shouldn't think. One thing I took away from a previous thread was that a German contributor suggested that Hitler was the most famous German, and all I could think was "Fuck me, you thought that guy was from your country?". "
I guess you are thinking of one of my comments on the La Catrina article. But you apparently didn't get the irony, as I put "German" in quotation marks, referring to the very fact that lots of people across the world think Hitler was German when in fact he was Austrian. Then again, people like the current POTUS wouldn't know the difference anyway...
;-)

And as for the most famous American painters, like was hinted at by a different commenter, the above list by @Hiratha should definitely include Bob Ross. He may not be the one with the best quality of paintings, but he is undeniably one of the most famous (and prolific).
And as a side note, I have got an awesome Bob Ross minifig by a knockoff brand that even includes a Deadpool head as an inside joke.

@Hiratha said:
"More seriously re: American artists that are famous and influential, and leaving out the ones already covered by Lego Art:

Georgia O’Keeffe
Andy Warhol
James McNeill Whistler
Mary Cassatt
Edward Hopper
Jackson Pollack
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Norman Rockwell
Augusta Savage
Roy Lichtenstein
Cindy Sherman"

Thanks for that list. There's a long history of amazing European painters but there's been plenty of amazing and influential painters on this side of the Atlantic as well!

I would add Thomas Hart Benton, Mark Rothko, and Andrew Wyeth to the list.

What the hell are we even doing anymore? If you like this artwork go buy a print for 10$. Again thinking this site is a bunch of millionaires willing to pay anything for...well.anything.

While this lego version is a quite impressive recreation of the original, I must say I find the original pretty awful - "Too little kiss, too much vomit - 2/5 stars - Will not buy again". I think the black/grey/yellow/white rectangle texture is the worst - not only is it ugly by itself, but it keeps reminding me of this hideous modern building style with narrow (almost prison-like) windows strewn randomly across the facade.

@Hiratha said: "Personally feel the only worth [Hitler's] paintings have are, 1. a pretty good lesson on how not to do perspective..."

I've seen people criticising various oddities (tops of doors/windows don't align, a staircase in front of a window etc) in one of his paintings, but one has to keep in mind that this was a time when architecture/building style wasn't as excessively regulated as now. Especially when doing repairs and modifications people often made do with whatever skills/tools/materials they happened to have at hand, making it hard to judge what was flaws in the painting and what was flaws in the building itself.

In the reveal of 21063 Neuschwanstein Castle @Torrent_Studio says: "Was this not the castle that a certain infamous Austrian painter depicted in one of his works, which was later criticised for lacking visual depth?"

I haven't seen this particular painting but I find it a bit ironic, given how 90% of modern photos of the castle shows the entrance side taken with a long zoom lens, reducing the depth to the point it looks like the castle has a square footprint.

@Lyichir

I appreciate the additions!

I considered Rothko originally, but I didn’t want to annoy Latvians and the list format didn’t leave a lot of room for nuanced national origin. (I also considered John Singer Sargent but while he was definitely an American citizen, when I checked I couldn’t find much sign he’d actually been there much at all at any time between his birth and adulthood.)

On the should-be-better-known-but-still-influential front I’d add Elaine Sturtevant and Cuban-American Ana Mendieta. Also, while much of his work was journalistic, Lewis Hine did some really good stuff.

I’m sure I’m forgetting people! Lot of great artists out there, from everywhere.

@CCC said:
" @Aanchir said:
"Granted, Klimt's work has always had plenty of critics. Of particular note, a lot of his works are now lost to us because they were condemned as "degenerate art" and a threat to German culture by the followers of another famous Austrian, and stolen and/or destroyed by the forces of that regime. So when you unleash vicious insults at artworks like this one, you'd do well to consider what artistic philosophy you're choosing to align yourself with."

Two people can dislike something without being aligned as to why they dislike it. It is possible to dislike something for different reasons just like it is possible to like something for different reasons. Someone not liking Klimt's work does not mean they have the same artistic philosophy as Hitler."

I mean, that goes without saying. But when your immediate reaction to a particular style of art is visceral disgust, without attempting to understand its value or meaning, knowing that history ought to give you pause. It's at least worth interrogating those feelings to ensure you AREN'T simply indulging in an irrational prejudice shared with some of history's greatest monsters. Knowing history means that we can learn from it, and this is just one of the small ways we can put that into practice our own lives.

dang it, LEGO.
just when i was feeling smug that there weren't any big sets coming out that I want... you have to drop this?
okay, time to start saving up...

@axeleng

We should certainly keep that in mind. We can also, however, compare his paintings of buildings to the buildings that still exist today and also the paintings made of those same buildings by his (better) contemporaries, and *then* go “wow, Hitler was really bad at perspective, because that is not how the building looked then or now and also the position of that arch is literally impossible”. :) A thing I have done and anyone can do! Even if you don’t know much about art these things are identifiable with a bit of scrutiny — and if you’re not sure what to look for then that Hogarth print is very helpful. Just have to do a bit of digging to find the right paintings of the right building.

@LANmustgo said:
"What the hell are we even doing anymore? If you like this artwork go buy a print for 10$. Again thinking this site is a bunch of millionaires willing to pay anything for...well.anything."

Damn. You really are just here to crow about how not liking things makes you better than everyone else.

@LANmustgo said:
"What the hell are we even doing anymore? If you like this artwork go buy a print for 10$. Again thinking this site is a bunch of millionaires willing to pay anything for...well.anything."
And if you like SW go watch the movies again. And if you like fire trucks take a walk to the fire station.
You probably own at least 300$ of sets I would not display.

@Zander said:
" @King_J said:
"Beyond stoked. This is my wife's favorite painting, and we have a print hanging in our kitchen."
Does Queen_J know about this LEGO version? If not, you should surreptitiously replace your print with this one and see how long it takes her to notice! :~P"

Unfortunately I was too excited to see this and showed her about 5 seconds later. Would have been a great idea if I had any patience!

@Hiratha said:
" @BLProductions

I suggest you look up the history of “degenerate art” and maybe reconsider writing of your personal taste, or thinking of it, in a way indistinguishable from such, because honestly that second paragraph… woof."
Interesting. I have not heard of that movement before. But I don't see how what I said is "indistinguishable" from that. I do not agree with or believe any of the "theories" of those so-called "German intellectuals."* I refer you to @CCC 's comment above:

"Two people can dislike something without being aligned as to why they dislike it. It is possible to dislike something for different reasons just like it is possible to like something for different reasons."
My previous statement on modern art stems from the point that "art reflects culture," and human culture has been in decline, morally speaking, for the past several centuries, with philosophical roots tracing back to the 1400s. As human society has declined, art has (generally) gone with it. So I'm not particularly inclined to celebrate things that represent that trajectory, which, having now seen it, I can see The Kiss does not, so that point is not a big deal in this case.

My other opinion on unnecessary swirls and squiggles stands: I find that, compared to other styles, modern art generally seems rather poorly-designed and... childish, I guess (for lack of a better word; you can see I'm not good at art critique) - people then hailing it as incredibly deep and complex makes it all seem very pretentious. In my utilitarian opinion, a squiggly line is a squiggly line.

@Aanchir: thanks for the deep-dive info! I'm afraid I don't quite see the sunlit archway entrance - I think the lack of shadows anywhere kills that perspective. But I get the intention. However, I feel like that indicates the painting could have been better. Photography existing is not reason enough to abandon realism. Look at video games, or anime: their art styles aren't photorealistic, yet they still can clearly convey realistic settings just as well as (if not better than, in some cases) live-action films/TV/photographs. Granted, those forms of media didn't exist in the early 1900s, but surely appreciation still existed for hand-drawn work, same as it does today, especially with all the styles and paint types (e.g., oil) available. All that to say, I don't think art needed to go in this direction, but I guess I wasn't there so I wouldn't know.

*Off-topic: As usual, that movement looked only at the surface level of an issue its proponents made up and then misaddressed it; the morons who came up with it are no less a part of the real problem - that being the decline of a moral society I mention above - than anyone else. In fact, they are a good example of how bad the state of humanity had become even back then.

@Andrusi said:
" @LANmustgo said:
"What the hell are we even doing anymore? If you like this artwork go buy a print for 10$. Again thinking this site is a bunch of millionaires willing to pay anything for...well.anything."

Damn. You really are just here to crow about how not liking things makes you better than everyone else."

Cool story bro

@gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Snowy_Tabbert said:
"Lego has done a wonderful job.

I'm sorry but I need to rant / I need assistance. I'm on Reddit "discussing" about this amazing piece with a few people. A bunch of them have been thinking that the ORIGINAL painting in the museum is worth less than $300. Someone even said he bought it from the museum for $250. WTF? The only reasonable person (who claimed that it's worth MUCH MORE) has been downvoted heaps. I'm the only one supporting him and being downvoted as well. That's just ridiculous. If any of you could spare a minute PLEASE come and leave some fair comments. Thank you so much!!

https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/1uxcu9y/comment/oxqxvfd/?context=1&screen_view_count=12&sort=new "

I assumed everyone knew that Reddit was mostly populated by morons."

And some of them are even in this thread, given the number of "vomit" comments.

@Hiratha said: "We can also, however, compare his paintings of buildings to the buildings that still exist today and also the paintings made of those same buildings by his (better) contemporaries"

That would of course be far more enlightening, unfortunately most articles/posts on the subject only shows a random painting without anything to compare it with - only pointing out that this, that and those details looks weird, "so this proves Hitler was a rubbish painter, ha-ha!". There may or may not be other pictures of the building in question, but without even any references to which building it is, I really don't feel like doing OP's homework. Of course, some details would be far more damning than others, like a completely impossible arch vs a slightly misaligned window. The status of the building may also matter, a prominent landmark building is more likely to be built by skilled professionals than the lower-class backyard in the picture I mentioned.

In the end it boils down to not being able to shake the thought of "what if...", things could have turned out very differently if Hitler had been admitted to art school and getting a chance to improve upon his flawed techniques - after all, it was art *school*, not the Master Artist's Guild.

Thought there would be more drum-laquered gold, but this is actually pretty good as it is! I'm impressed.

I am going to be completely honest: I was in the vomit camp. When I first saw this scrolling on Facebook, I genuinely thought this was supposed to be a Lego interpretation of vomit before I looked at the headline.

Unlike some others here however, I wanted to figure out why I felt physically repulsed by this set, and not just blindly hate on it.

I am somewhat familiar with The Kiss, although I can’t say it’s one of my favorite pieces. I would say I’m fairly neutral on the subject matter, so no real bias there. After really thinking about it, I think the problem for me is the primary shade of yellow that was chosen is too overpowering. I think there should be more tan (or possibly spring yellow?) incorporated into the build, and have that yellow be more of an accent color. The lack of detail on the woman’s face really hurts the end result as well, similar to the Mona Lisa set. If nothing else, I think her lips should have been replicated. I think these 2 changes would have made this set look a lot more appealing. I do think the original painting is interesting, and could lend itself well to Lego, but I don’t think this model was executed as well as it could have been.

Wow, goergeous. The price is not bad for a caliber of this set, but still, out of my reach.

Hitler: I went to art college.
Himmler: You.
Hitler: Yeah.
Himmler: How did you get into art college?
Hitler: The normal way you get into art college. The same old usual, boring, normal way you get in. Failed my exams and applied. They snapped me up.
;-)

The funny thing is how few letters you have to change when turning the names of Lister to Hitler and Rimmer to Himmler in order to turn the classic Red Dwarf quote into this fictional exchange.

@GotMeBrickedUp said:
"Wow, just wow. Possibly one of the best Art sets yet. "

i think it IS the best one yet - stunning, but unfortunately, seeing how LEGO yellows and discoloures over time, I will never buy this one...

Not for me even though it does look like an incredible build. I had never heard of the original piece before and whether I'm looking at an image of the original or this LEGO set, I have a hard time even seeing what's supposed to be going on. It could be due to my colorblindness and the use of so many similar shades of yellow. But it just kind of looks like a formless blob of yellow. I'm glad that a lot of people do enjoy it though, and I'm curious to watch some reviews when it releases to check out the building techniques and NPU.