Gallery label
Holofernes is almost edited out. Gold, exposed flesh, and Judith's half-lidded gaze transform public deliverance into an intimate, unstable encounter.
Look closely
The narrow format traps Judith between ornament and frame. Her jeweled collar echoes the severed neck while the head is so aggressively cropped it can be missed. Critics and cataloguers repeatedly called the figure Salome; the metal frame asserts the artist’s identification by naming JUDITH UND HOLOFERNES across its top.
Why this Judith matters
The painting crystallizes a historically specific femme-fatale reading, powerful precisely because older meanings remain beneath it. Gustav designed the frame and his brother Georg executed it, making the title part of the object rather than later museum interpretation.
Sources for this record:Belvedere record ↗Belvedere close study of the frame ↗Natter, Gustav Klimt: The Complete Paintings ↗Mieke Bal on Judith, the severed head, and visual knowledge ↗
“Holofernes is almost edited out. Gold, exposed flesh, and Judith's half-lidded gaze transform public deliverance into an intimate, unstable encounter.”
Narrative index
Primary catalogue placement: display of the head, Judith 13:14–16. The index organizes comparison; it does not claim that every visual detail comes from those verses or that the work touches only one episode.
