Beethoven Frieze, 1902 By Gustav Klimt. Editorial Photo

Beethoven Frieze, 1902 by Gustav Klimt. Klimt’s work is an allegory containing striking imagery alluding to the madness of human kind. At the start of the frieze female figures glide horizontally. They were described in the Beethoven Exhibition catalog as “Die Sehnsucht nach dem Glück” (The Longing for Happiness). Along from them is “the giant Typhoeus,” a giant monkey-like creature and the mythological offspring of the earth goddess, Gaia (one of Klimt s Hostile Powers). And towards the end of the frieze, a vertical group of women, called “Die Künste” (The Arts), reach from floor to ceiling like a living pillar, leading to the “Chor der Paradiesesengel” (Choir of Angels from Paradise).