The Kiss (German: Der Kuss) is an oil-on-canvas painting with added gold leaf, silver and platinum by the Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt.

It is thought that Klimt and his companion Emilie Flöge modeled for the work, while others have speculated it was Austrian composer Alma Mahler, [9] but there is no evidence or record to prove this.

Paintings such as The Kiss are visual manifestations of fin-de-siecle spirit because they capture a decadence conveyed by opulent and sensuous images.

The man's head ends very close to the top of the canvas, a departure from traditional Western canons that reflects the influence of Japanese prints, as does the painting's simplified composition.

For Klimt, the flatness of the mosaics and their lack of perspective and depth only enhanced their golden brilliance, and he started to make unprecedented use of gold and silver leaf in his own work.

More specifically, Klimt seems to be showing the exact moment when Orpheus turns around to caress Eurydice and loses his love forever.

Klimt painted The Kiss soon after his three-part Vienna Ceiling series, which created a scandal and were criticized as both "pornographic" and evidence of "perverted excess".