In the manner of Gustav Klimt
Austrian, 1862–1918
The Embrace on the Platform, 2026
Oil and gold leaf on canvas
150 × 120 cm
Never painted.
Commissioned for the collection, 2026.
PAB 2026.11.3
Moving, 8-second loop ·
They sit on a platform bench, heads together, both looking down at the one phone he holds, and their two coats have become a single field of gold rectangles, eyes and blossoms. Behind them a blue train blurs past. Klimt's *Kiss* wraps two lovers in one golden cloak. This is the same cloak on the 7.42, and they are not kissing, which is somehow more intimate.
The brief
A couple seated shoulder to shoulder on a platform bench, both looking down at one phone, their coats merging into one field of gold rectangles and eyes, a blurred train behind, no embrace. Viennese Secession painting with gold leaf, figures whose faces and hands are rendered softly and realistically while their bodies dissolve into flat fields of ornamental pattern, spirals, squares and eyes in gold, black and jewel tones, mosaic-like decorative surfaces, elongated composition, shimmering metallic leaf against matte paint. Museum photograph of the painting with gold leaf catching light, no frame, no text, no wall, no floor, cropped to the canvas edge.
Written to the house rules. The painter's name does not appear.
Take it home
The painting on this room's wall, at its own proportions, nothing written on it.
