# Beethoven Frieze: right wall

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/klimt-gustav-r903df27f14047e/beethoven-frieze-right-wall-r6b277cc6ffbef6>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [KLIMT, Gustav](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/klimt-gustav-r903df27f14047e>)
- Date: 1851-1900
- Technique: Casein paints, stucco coverings, various materials, gold plating on mortar, 217 x 1303 cm

## Commentary

The &#34;Sehnsüchte und Wünsche der Menschheit&#34; \(Longings and Desires of Mankind\) return on the connecting right wall as a horizontal floating procession and move on until they are stopped by the lonely figure of &#34;Poetry. Here &#34;the longing for happiness finds its end in poetry.&#34; Klimt presents the figure of Poetry in a manner inspired by ancient examples. Klimt also draws on the repertoires of ancient, Egyptian, and archaic cultures in many other of the frieze&#39;s motifs. A vertical group of crouching women, called &#34;Die Künste&#34; \(The Arts\), reach from floor to ceiling like a living pillar, leading to the &#34;Chor der Paradiesesengel&#34; \(Choir of Angels from Paradise\). The Choir of Angels from Paradise essentially corresponds to Beethoven&#39;s closing chorus of Schiller&#39;s &#34;Ode an die Freude&#34; \(Ode to Joy\). With raised hands and closed eyes, the floating female figures sing the song of joy. In the exhibition catalogue, Klimt&#39;s female choir is characterized as follows: &#34;The arts lead us into the ideal kingdom, which is the only place we can find pure joy, pure happiness, and pure love. &#39;Joy, thy purest spark divine, this kiss to all the world&#39;.&#34; His pictorial representation of the &#34;kiss to all the world&#34; manifests itself in the form of an embracing naked couple, which also signals the climax and finale of the frieze. Klimt&#39;s symbolic union corresponds to Schiller&#39;s verse &#34;Joy, thy purest spark divine. This kiss to all the world!&#34; as set to music by Beethoven in the fourth movement of the Ninth Symphony.

## Related artworks

- [Adam and Eve](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/klimt-gustav-r903df27f14047e/adam-and-eve-re5acbdd1db7104>)
- [Altar of Dionysos](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/klimt-gustav-r903df27f14047e/altar-of-dionysos-r51a0dbdef95597>)
- [Avenue in the Park of Schloss Kammer](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/klimt-gustav-r903df27f14047e/avenue-in-the-park-of-schloss-kammer-rb8d98092328ed0>)
- [Beethoven Frieze: centre wall \(detail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/klimt-gustav-r903df27f14047e/beethoven-frieze-centre-wall-detail-r96105d84f8718e>)
- [Beethoven Frieze: centre wall \(detail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/klimt-gustav-r903df27f14047e/beethoven-frieze-centre-wall-detail-rac49082b7f8d1f>)
- [Beethoven Frieze: centre wall](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/klimt-gustav-r903df27f14047e/beethoven-frieze-centre-wall-r297e4a18f56571>)
- [Beethoven Frieze: left wall \(part 1\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/klimt-gustav-r903df27f14047e/beethoven-frieze-left-wall-part-1-ra930acb0adc8c4>)
- [Beethoven Frieze: left wall \(part 2, detail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/klimt-gustav-r903df27f14047e/beethoven-frieze-left-wall-part-2-detail-r83bb890bfd4d12>)
- [Beethoven Frieze: left wall \(part 2\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/klimt-gustav-r903df27f14047e/beethoven-frieze-left-wall-part-2-r2d1ba828000e78>)
- [Beethoven Frieze: right wall \(part 1\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/klimt-gustav-r903df27f14047e/beethoven-frieze-right-wall-part-1-r18010edbbd02c8>)
- [Beethoven Frieze: right wall \(part 2, deatail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/klimt-gustav-r903df27f14047e/beethoven-frieze-right-wall-part-2-deatail-rf45c32b0235284>)
- [Beethoven Frieze: right wall \(part 2\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/klimt-gustav-r903df27f14047e/beethoven-frieze-right-wall-part-2-ra04a1045902150>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)
