Friends I (The Sisters), Gustav Klimt (1907)
“During his summer sojourn on the Attersee, Gustav Klimt has created a new painting. The work is entitled ‘The Sisters’ and depicts two Viennese ladies wearing elegant winter suits,” read a notice in the Viennese newspaper Neue Freie Presse dated 7th September 1907, documenting for the first time that Klimt’s artistic output during his summer stays on the Attersee was not limited to landscapes.
The faces of the depicted, rendered from the front and in profile, as well as their dark garments merge in the upper part of the canvas. This fusion is interrupted only by a vertical, white broach on the dress of the left lady turned towards the beholder, and by a colorful ornamental decor on the right edge of the depiction.
