Select the painting to see it full screen and zoom in.
What the painting shows
Goldfish by Klimt is an oil painting measuring 181 by 67 cm, framed in an unusually tall and slender format. At the lower edge, a woman with long red hair crouches with her back to you, glancing over her shoulder toward the viewer with a bold smile. Directly behind her rises a large fish shimmering in bright golden scales, its wide eye staring outward.
Above the fish, two other nude figures drift through dark water filled with deep blues, dark greens, and flecks of gold. One figure at the top right has flowing reddish hair and turns toward the surface, while delicate blue lines curve like water currents between the bodies. The composition places these floating figures in a vertical stream, blending human forms with decorative patterns from Klimt’s gold period.
The story behind it
Klimt painted the canvas between 1901 and 1902 under the original title To My Critics, also known as To My Detractors or Goldfische. He created the work as a direct response to those who attacked his University of Vienna ceiling paintings, which detractors had denounced as pornography and perverted excess. The figure presenting her back to the viewer served as an intentional gesture directed at his harshest reviewers.
Some suggest that the model with the vivid red hair was Red Hilda, a model who also resembles the woman in Klimt’s Danaë and Woman with Hat and Feather Boa. The painting connects closely to the themes of myth and female figures found across Klimt’s allegories.
Where to see it
You can view Goldfish at the Kunstmuseum Solothurn in Solothurn. The museum preserves the original oil on canvas, which remains an important record of Klimt’s artistic defiance.
Details of Goldfish
Questions about Goldfish
Where is Goldfish by Klimt?
Goldfish by Klimt is in the collection of the Kunstmuseum Solothurn in Solothurn. The museum preserves the original oil painting, which measures 181 by 67 cm. Klimt completed the canvas between 1901 and 1902 under the alternative title To My Critics, creating it as a response to public attacks on his university ceiling paintings.
When did Klimt paint Goldfish?
Klimt painted Goldfish between 1901 and 1902, though some museum records list its date simply as 1902. He produced the oil painting during the period when his University of Vienna ceiling paintings faced severe controversy. He originally gave the painting the alternative title To My Critics before it became widely known as Goldfish or Goldfische.
