What lies beneath: The Kiss on canvas by Gustav Klimt

The Kiss by Gustav Klimt

Niall MacMonagle

The things we do to be beautiful: Cleopatra bathed every day in asses' milk and El Dorado, King of Manoa, obviously interested in that million-dollar look, had his body oiled and powdered with gold-dust. And in this painting, said to be a portrait of the artist and his lover Emily Flöge, Klimt turned both into a beautifully golden, passionate couple.

This large painting is a perfect square and the lovers are unusually placed so that their heads are close to the top of the canvas. Painted 1908-1909, he and she are all of a piece. Inseparable, they melt into one.