Design for a theater curtain 1883

Gustav Klimt's "Design for a theater curtain" (1883), a watercolor housed in Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum, exemplifies the artist's early, more traditional style. The design features a central, ethereal figure ascending toward a golden sky, surrounded by ornate frames and a decorative flourish of swirling foliage. This pre-Art Nouveau work, while showcasing the artist's mastery of detail and elegant composition, lacks the bold, symbolic language of his later, iconic gold-leaf paintings.