Helpful Score: 2
A fascinating novel. If you enjoy art; you will enjoy this book. However, the book is a little different twist in that Hickey's writing reimagines the drama of Klimt's lifestyle, along with his many portraits & paintings. Klimt is a gifted artist who has multiple affair's with the women posing for portraits & paintings in his studio. 'The Painted Kiss' is the special painting that disappoints Emilie, one of the women who poses for Klimt. A novel that will keep you reading out of curiosity..
Every chapter like opening a gift! A richly painted text of a rare relationship. Insightful telling of societal and individual challenges and rewards during this period in time and place, and in accordance with age, gender, occupation, station in life, and more.
This is a lovely imagined work about Gustav Klimt and the opulent Austria that informed so much of his work. An interesting juxtaposition of the scandalous free spirited life of Klimt and the staid bourgeois world of the narrator, and subject of one of his celebrated paintings. A delight for the fan of historical fiction, particularly art history
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