BEETHOVEN FRIEZE

In 1902, at the Secessionist Palace, the first complete work created by the collective of artists was presented as a tribute to the composer Ludwig van Beethoven. The composition was created by various artists, including Gustav Klimt, and centred around a sculpture of the composer by Max Klinger.

In this Frieze, Klimt intented to convey the importance of art for humanity; an art that had been overshadowed by the prevailing rationalism of the time. He made the most of the opportunity to emphasize the need for an artistic revival through the Vienna Secession.

At 34 metres in length, the Frieze is divided into 3 panels: Longing for Happiness, Hostile Forces, and Ode to Joy. The latter can be further subdivided into two parts due to the design of the Secessionists’ Hall: Music and Culmination in Poetry. The mural and mosaic includes materials such as gold leaf, casein paint, graphite, mirrors, and mother-of-pearl.

Longing for Happiness

This scene represents human despair in the midst of life’s contradictions, pleading for a guide to help achieve happiness. Humanity is symbolized by a family (a girl and a couple) who call for help from a knight in golden armour, associated with the artist’s role, and accompanied by two female figures. These figures represent Ambition, crowned with a laurel wreath, and Compassion, whose hands are locked.

The upper part of the scene is decorated with a strip of women with flowers in their hair, symbolizing longing and hope for a rebirth of joy.

Hostile Forces

In the central panel, Klimt depicts the giant Typhon, alongside his daughters, the Gorgons, to the left. They have golden serpents in their hair and embody the hostile forces of Disease, Madness, and Death, with aggressive and desperate expressions. To the right of Typhon are Lust, Fornication, and Intemperance. Further away, Sorrow is hunched over, using her long black hair as a cloak.

The background is made up of giant snakes, which allude both to the canonical hair of the Gorgons and to the association of these animals with evil.

Ode to Joy: Music

A woman dressed in a golden cloak is playing the lyre. The musical notes coming from the instrument are personified by female figures with golden hair, adorned with flowers, that allude to the strip of women in the Longing for Happiness panel.

Ode to Joy: Culmination in poetry

Following the musical notes, we arrive at the representation of the Arts, personified by five female figures, who point toward Happiness, accompanied by Ideas and Ideals, represented by a choir of angels. Happiness is symbolized by a couple embracing passionately, evoking the verse by Schiller that inspired Beethoven: “Joy, beautiful spark of the gods, daughter of Elysium! […] Embrace, millions of creatures! Let this kiss reach the whole world!”