Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Judith as Femme Fatale

Judith and Holofernes (1901) by the Austrian Symbolist and Art Nouveau painter Gustav Klimt (1862-1918).

Judith is lasciviously caressing the head of Holofernes. There is nothing historical in this painting - Judith is a modern woman, her hairstyle is that of the fin-de-siècle.
But real interesting is, that Klimt is mixing Judith and Salome. This woman showing the head as her trophy could be Salome as well. Both together become the symbol of the modern femme fatale.

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