With this work at the height of his “Golden Period,” Austrian painter Gustav Klimt created a universal allegorical statement about love as a central theme of human existence. The Austrian state bought the work when it was first presented, in 1908, for the recently founded Modern Gallery in the Lower Belvedere. Since then, the painting has remained in the museum’s holdings. Today, The Kiss is considered an icon of Viennese Art Nouveau and European Modernism. It is one of the most famous and most frequently reproduced works of art in the world.