Throughout history, great artists have expressed the human experience in a universal language of form and beauty. The Montblanc Masters of Art Collection pays tribute to their immortal contribution to the pursuit of perfection in art: a pursuit that Montblanc has always promoted and celebrated. One artist whose vision certainly helped shape Viennese Art Nouveau and the Golden Age is Gustav Klimt. The Montblanc Masters of Art Homage to Gustav Klimt Limited Edition 4810 celebrates his artistic beginnings in the Viennese Secession and highlights elements drawn from his masterpieces “Pallas Athena” and “The Kiss”.
With his rebellion against the stereotypical concepts of art and society, Gustav Klimt was a pioneer of the avant-garde. Klimt managed to blend realistic representation, ornamentation, and abstraction into a style that reached its peak in the delicately sensual female portraits. One of the earliest paintings in which he equally valued the portrait subject and the ornaments is a 1902 portrait of his companion and muse Emilie Flöge, depicted in a dreamy and almost mystical shade of blue. This artwork inspired the blue hue of the Montblanc Masters of Art Homage to Gustav Klimt Limited Edition 4810.
The circles, spirals, triangles, and lines shining through the dark blue translucent lacquer of the writing instrument come from his famous painting “The Kiss,” where two lovers seem to dissolve into ornamental and geometric shapes through the power of emotion. Made of translucent blue lacquer and hammered metal with yellow gold finish, the cap and body of the writing instrument perfectly match complementary colors in reference to Gustav Klimt’s famous works from the “golden period”, including “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I”, the Stoclet Palace Frieze, and “The Kiss”.
Klimt used a new technique of enriching his colors with sections of gold leaf, thus creating the impression of gemstones set in gold. In the Limited Edition 4810, the hammered cone with yellow gold finish is embellished with a synthetic green spinel, a color that evokes spring, the season of new beginnings. Klimt’s “Secession” monogram, a golden stamp of his initials – GK – refers to the artist’s achievements within the Secession. The clip of the Homage to Gustav Klimt 4810 Limited Edition is specially crafted inspired by Gustav Klimt’s “Pallas Athena”. Athena is the goddess of war and art, depicted in the act of launching the struggle for artistic freedom. The delicately curved lines ending in three spirals on the yellow gold-finished clip correspond to the decorations found on the forged metal frame.
The handcrafted solid 18K gold nib is finely engraved with an owl, a symbol of knowledge, wisdom, and intuition, and is considered the faithful animal of the Greek goddess Athena. The engraving is a reference to Gustav Klimt’s painting “Pallas Athena”, but also to the Viennese Secession building, whose side facades are decorated with owl sculptures.
