Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" is characteristic of his work: erotically charged, dazzlingly embellished and rich in gleaming gold tones. "The Kiss," created in 1907-1908, is one of Klimt's most transcendent images. Only the faces and hands of this couple are visible; all the rest is great swirls of gold, as if to express the loss of self that lovers experience. Klimt, (1862-1918) an Austrian iconoclast, rose from childhood impoverishment to become an artist of enormous significance to the Viennese Secession and Art Nouveau movement styles.