Lady With a Fan

Lady with a Fan is one of the paintings that Klimt produced in the years directly before he died in 1918 and which might be considered the realization of his mature artistic vision. It combines rich patterns and Japanese motifs with Klimt's adoration of women figures.

In the painting we see a young woman lost in thought as she stands before us, staring askance into the faraway distance to our left. Her identity remains unknown. The flattened yellow background of the painting is reminiscent of Klimt's gold-period paintings such as The Kiss and at the same time recalls the smooth dimensionalities of Japanese woodblocks and painted Chinese porcelain. Here we find floating a mystical phoenix (or Fènghuáng, a symbol of grace and virtue in Chinese mythology) with fabulous emerald feathers. Opposite the phoenix, standing on the right of the canvas, boasting breast feathers of resplendent ultramarine, stands a long-legged crane, an emblem of wisdom and immortality, while all around the unreal air explodes with bright bursts of pink lotus flowers, signifying the immutability of beauty.