Baby (Cradle)

Gustav Klimt, 1917/1918

A baby nestles in a mass of frilly white fabric atop a colorful patchwork, perhaps a pile of quilts, against a sage and spring-green background in this square painting. The baby’s face and right hand peeks out from the mountain of fabric at the top center of the composition. The infant has ash-white skin with pink cheeks and lips, and looks down toward us with large dark eyes. The pile of fabric creates a mosaic-like mix of pattern and color with vibrant royal and baby blue, sage green, turquoise, butter yellow, and shell and salmon pink. Some patterns are outlined in black while brushstrokes swirl together in other areas. The background is mottled with cool mint and asparagus-green strokes against pale beige.
Artist
Gustav Klimt
Date
1917/1918
Type
Painting
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
110.9 × 110.4 cm
Collection
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Licence
Public domain, CC0

Image description

A baby nestles in a mass of frilly white fabric atop a colorful patchwork, perhaps a pile of quilts, against a sage and spring-green background in this square painting. The baby’s face and right hand peeks out from the mountain of fabric at the top center of the composition. The infant has ash-white skin with pink cheeks and lips, and looks down toward us with large dark eyes. The pile of fabric creates a mosaic-like mix of pattern and color with vibrant royal and baby blue, sage green, turquoise, butter yellow, and shell and salmon pink. Some patterns are outlined in black while brushstrokes swirl together in other areas. The background is mottled with cool mint and asparagus-green strokes against pale beige.

Gustav Klimt