The Three Ages of Woman

The Three Ages of Woman
the-three-ages-of-woman-gustav-klimt
Artist Gustav Klimt
Year 1905
Medium Oil on canvas
Location Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, Italy
Dimensions 78 x 70 in
198 x 178 cm
Famous Paintings by Gustav Klimt
The Kiss
Adele Bloch-Bauer I
The Three Ages of Woman
Adele Bloch-Bauer II
Beethoven Frieze
Danaƫ

In 1905, seven years after the death of his brother and father, Gustav finished the work on The Three Ages of Woman. The painting represents the three main stages of a woman’s life starting with the birth, the motherhood and ending with old age. Infancy and motherhood are carefully represented as a symbiosis. The infant is held by a loving mother showing an overwhelming affection and close bonding between the two.

In the left side of the painting, the old woman is withering away, worn out and alone. Hiding her face with the hand indicates a difficult life but also suggests that the woman feels the need to hide.

Gustav Klimt

Born on July 14, 1862, Gustav manifested his artistic talent at an early age. Until 1883, he attended architectural painting class at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts where he discovered his love for murals, sketches and other art objects, focusing his work on the female body. Drawn by modernism and contemporary art, Gustav changed his style, focusing on symbolism.