LEGO Art The Kiss’ organic look was achieved in a unique way

With 31221 Gustav Klimt – The Kiss, the upcoming LEGO Art set breaks away from rigid geometry to create its distinctive organic shapes.

If you’ve been holding out for a fresh brick-built masterpiece to place on your wall, then 31221 Gustav Klimt – The Kiss just might be worth a look. The upcoming LEGO Art set is based on the Austrian painter’s iconic creation and is comprised of 4,000 pieces, with many of those being metallic gold elements.

All of those parts appear to have been put to good use in 31221 Gustav Klimt – The Kiss, although translating the complex organic shapes of the original artwork into a LEGO build proved to be something of a test for the team behind next month’s artistic model.

“I think it’s really specific about Klimt that he perfectly merges the ornament and the human figure,” said Stephanie Auer, Curator of the 19th & 20th Century Collection at the Belvedere Museum, which houses The Kiss, to LEGO.com. “That was one of our biggest challenges. He was a master in depicting human faces and feelings. So, I think the faces were tricky.”

Fortunately, the talented LEGO Art design team was able to interpret those complicated shapes in a unique way, without losing the distinctive look and layered textures of Gustav Klimt’s original masterpiece.

That approach required being unshackled from the sometimes restrictive geometry of the LEGO system, in order to deliver a set that successfully captured all of the human qualities of the two faces in the painting.

“We achieved something really special by breaking out of the rigid LEGO grid and not having everything at 90 degrees,” said LEGO Master Model Designer Milan Madge. “We added some angled areas to make it look more organic, so that the arms were holding each other. By playing with the LEGO system in that way and using some clever geometry, we managed to capture some of that liveliness.”

Lovers of LEGO Art will be able to find out more about how 31221 Gustav Klimt – The Kiss came to be with a dedicated podcast on the set that drops on the day the model launches.

31221 Gustav Klimt – The Kiss is due to be released on August 1 for Insiders members, while everyone else can pick up the set from August 4. The LEGO Art build will be priced at £269.99 in the UK, $299.99 in the US and €299.99 in Europe.

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