Woman in a yellow dress | Max Kurzweil | 1899
Max Kurzweil founded, along with Klimt and other artists, a movement named The Vienna Secession, who rejected the conservatism of the Viennese Association of Artists, almost completely oriented to the history painting. The secessionists were influenced by the French impressionism and make it known across all Austria. According to the information of the articles, the secessionists take from the impressionists the use of bright colors, but personally, I don’t think this is one of the characteristics of the French movement. Whatever the reason, we have no doubt of the vibrant colors of the painting Woman in a yellow dress.
I it, we can see the artist’s wife posing relaxed on a couch. The yellow color of her dress is highlighted above any other characteristic of the work as it contrasts with the tones of the couch; and the background, undifferentiated and faded, intensify this effect. The sad and resigned expression of his wife in the work prophesies the dramatic end of the artist’s life who, after killing his lover, commits suicide in 1916.
