Synopses & Reviews
In her passionate and atmospheric debut novel,
The Painted Kiss, Elizabeth Hickey reimagines the relationship between Gustav Klimt and the woman whose name he uttered with his dying breath.
Vienna in 1886 was a city of elegant cafes, grand opera houses, and a thriving and adventurous artistic community. It was there that twelve-year-old Emilie Floge met the con-troversial libertine and painter Gustav Klimt. When Klimt is hired by Emilie's bourgeois father to give her some basic drawing lessons, he introduces her to a subculture of dissolute artists, wanton models, and decadent patrons that both terrifies and fascinates her.
The Painted Kiss follows the developing relationship between Klimt and Emilie, who blossoms from a naove girl to a sanguine woman, becoming mistress to one of the twentieth century's most fascinating artists and the owner of an exclusive fashion house, which Klimt helps design. Fin de sihcle Vienna glitters with wealthy, beautiful women for Emilie to dress in her salon and for Klimt to undress in his studio. It is a world overflowing with the greatest artists, composers, and writers of the era, and yet doomed by the imminent collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Although she is never sure of her place in Klimt's life, Emilie is a constant presence, supporting him through tragedy, self-doubt, triumph, and scandal and ultimately serving as the model for his greatest masterpiece.
The Painted Kiss is a moving love story that is as sensual and compelling as a work by Klimt himself.
Review
"Hickey uses her art history background to paint a fictionalized biography of Emilie Floge, a Viennese fashion designer and friend of painter Gustav Klimt." Library Journal
Review
"A graceful imagining....Lovely, if a little ornate rather like Klimt's work." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Hickey possesses a comfortably secure voice in sharing her understanding of the nature of this unsordid affair and her knowledge of the glamorous but teetering-on-the-edge time and place." Booklist
Review
"In Elizabeth Hickey's compelling novel of tempestuous lives amid the tawdry bohemia of artists' studios and the glittering innuendo of Viennese café society, longing pulses from the page. The Painted Kiss is vivid, atmospheric, engaging, and very, very real." Susan Vreeland, author of Girl in Hyacinth Blue
Synopsis
In the tradition of The Girl with the Pearl Earring and The Girl in Hyacinth Blue, a beautiful, atmospheric, and sensual debut re-imagines the tempestuous relationship between painter Gustav Klimt and Emilie Floege, the youngest daughter of a bourgeois businessman.
Synopsis
Gustav Klimt, one of the great painters of fin de siècle Austria—and the subject of Helen Mirren’s latest film,
Woman in Gold—takes center stage in this passionate and atmospheric debut novel, which reimagines the tumultuous relationship between the Viennese painter and Emilie Flöge, the woman who posed for his masterpiece
The Kiss, and whose name he uttered with his dying breath.
Vienna in 1886 was a city of elegant cafés, grand opera houses, and a thriving and adventurous artistic community. It is here where the twelve-year-old Emilie meets the controversial libertine and painter. Hired by her bourgeois father for basic drawing lessons, Klimt introduces Emilie to a subculture of dissolute artists, wanton models, and decadent patrons that both terrifies and inspires her. The Painted Kiss follows Emilie as she blossoms from a naïve young girl to one of Europe's most exclusive couturiers—and Klimt's most beloved model and mistress. A provocative love story that brings to life Vienna's cultural milieu, The Painted Kiss is as compelling as a work by Klimt himself.
About the Author
Elizabeth Hickey was an art history major at Williams College and earned her MFA from Columbia. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband.