Mäda Primavesi (1903–2000)
A nine-year-old girl stands feet apart and boldly faces us amid flowers and patterns: the only full-length portrait of a child painted by Gustav Klimt. Full commentary ↓
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Mäda Primavesi (1903–2000) is an oil painting by Gustav Klimt (1912–13) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It measures 149.9 × 110.5 cm.
In the pictureA girl in a white dress with a lilac sash stands with her legs apart and her hands behind her back, facing straight ahead. Her expression is as resolute as an adult's. Behind her are a wall patterned with pink and lilac flowers and a green carpet, and at her feet an animal-patterned rug. The patterns in the background are flat; only the girl's face and hands are modeled in three dimensions.
BackgroundPainted in 1912–13, it shows Mäda, daughter of Otto Primavesi, a Viennese banker and patron of Klimt. Mäda was nine at the time, and she later recalled that Klimt made dozens of sketches to settle on her pose. What sets this portrait apart is that it presents the child not as cute or obedient but as a person with a will of her own. Mäda lived to ninety-six, until 2000.
Puzzle tipDivide it into the white dress, the pink background, and the green floor. Pin down the face, the sash, and the animal pattern at her feet first, and find places for the background's floral pattern by the color and size of the flowers. Place the white dress pieces by the direction of the folds. With so many patterns, this is a picture that is actually more fun at 100 pieces or more.
- Artist
- Austrian, Baumgarten 1862–1918 Vienna
- Classification
- Paintings
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 149.9 x 110.5 cm
- Credit line
- Gift of André and Clara Mertens, in memory of her mother, Jenny Pulitzer Steiner, 1964
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
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