The LEGO Art design team and Belvedere Museum have revealed exactly how 31221 Gustav Klimt – The Kiss became the latest brick-built masterpiece.
LEGO Art lovers will be able to add yet another impressive set to their home galleries next month when 31221 Gustav Klimt – The Kiss launches on August 1. The model recreates the Austrian artist's original painting in exacting detail, complete with various decorative elements representing the textured layering of the iconic masterpiece.
The process of how 31221 Gustav Klimt – The Kiss became a brick-built reality has been detailed in a new post on LEGO.com, one that takes a deep dive into the unique collaboration between the LEGO Art design team and the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, where the original painting permanently resides.
“Gustav Klimt was extremely concerned with proportion and getting things absolutely perfect,” explained LEGO Master Model Designer Milan Madge. “So, as a LEGO designer working on this, you have to think about how you use these LEGO bricks that fit in this very tight system to capture the exact proportions and dimensions that Klimt was looking for.”
“If you have a look at the background,” said Stephanie Auer, Curator of the 19th & 20th Century Collection at the Belvedere Museum, “this is really interesting: he more or less sprinkled the gold onto the background where it got stuck on some kind of adhesive. One might think that he used gold colour for the painting. But no, it’s actually gold leaf, and even platinum leaf or brass leaf.”
The shifting, luminous quality of Gustav Klimt’s artwork presented something of a challenge for the LEGO Art design team, with the brick-built version of The Kiss having to be assembled from a specific and ultimately limited colour palette.
“When you think of The Kiss, the iconic image of it is very yellow,” notes Milan. “But when you’re here in person and you walk around the piece, you see that it’s gold. It changes depending on where you are in the room and that was something we really wanted to capture in the LEGO set.”
For the Belvedere Museum, the chance to work directly with the LEGO Art design team was a ‘once-in-a-lifetime experience,’ with the creative partnership proving to be a natural fit for both parties.
“I think Gustav Klimt and LEGO bricks are a perfect match,” added Stephanie. “Klimt had a great interest in form and the reduction of form, as well as working with geometrical forms within his works. In The Kiss, where he uses so much geometrical ornament, it’s perfect to be reproduced with LEGO bricks.”
LEGO Insiders will be able to add 31221 Gustav Klimt – The Kiss to their collections on August 1, with a wider release for all from August 4. The LEGO Art set will be priced at £269.99 / $299.99 / €299.99 and includes multiple metallic gold elements within its 4,000-piece count.
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