Quick answer: Gustav Klimt's paintings — The Kiss, the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, Water Serpents — are built from flat areas of pattern and gold, which makes them unusually good paint by numbers designs: the ornament becomes hundreds of small, clear sections, and the gold becomes warm yellows and ochres that glow once varnished. The Kiss is the famous one and a satisfying medium project; Adele Bloch-Bauer is the most detailed; the Farmer's Garden with Sunflowers is the easiest and the most colorful; Hygieia and The Virgin suit painters who want something less expected. All are 16 × 20 inch kits with numbered paints and brushes.
Klimt is the painter people choose when they want a canvas that looks like a jewel. His golden period pictures are decorative in the best sense: every square inch has something going on, and the finished canvas rewards close looking. This guide covers the Klimt kits in the shop, which to pick, and how to get the gold to shine.
What you will find in this guide
Why Klimt suits paint by numbers
Klimt trained as a decorative painter and never stopped being one. His figures sit inside flat fields of pattern — spirals, squares, eyes, flowers — with very little shading. Flat pattern is exactly what a numbered canvas handles best: each shape is a section, each section is one color, and there is no soft gradient to approximate. The faces and hands are the only places where subtle shading appears, and they are small.
The gold is the other reason. Klimt used real gold leaf; a kit uses warm yellows, ochres and pale golds in several close shades. Painted carefully and finished with gloss varnish, those shades catch the light in a way that reads convincingly as metal from across a room.
The Kiss
Painted in 1907–08, this is one of the most recognized pictures in the world: a couple wrapped in a single golden cloak on a flowered ledge. The cloak is a field of rectangles and spirals in golds; the ledge is a meadow of small flowers; the background is a soft gold haze with big, easy sections. Difficulty: medium — many small pattern sections, but each is simple. Time: 25 to 35 hours. Best for: the iconic picture, bedrooms, and a wedding or anniversary gift. See The Kiss kit.
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I
The "Woman in Gold" of 1907: a Viennese society hostess almost dissolved into a wall of gold ornament, with only her face, shoulders and hands painted naturally. It is the most demanding Klimt in the range — the eye-shaped and spiral motifs are dense and small — and the most spectacular when finished. Difficulty: hard. Time: 35 to 45 hours. Best for: experienced painters who want a long, absorbing project. See the Adele Bloch-Bauer kit.
Water Serpents II
Floating figures with streaming hair, drifting through water full of flowers and pattern. It is a long horizontal composition, flowing rather than dense, and the sections are more generous than in the portraits. Difficulty: medium. Time: 25 to 30 hours. Best for: a wide wall above a sofa or bed, and anyone who wants Klimt without the heaviest ornament. See the Water Serpents II kit.
Farmer's Garden with Sunflowers
Klimt painted landscapes every summer on the Attersee, and they are nothing like the gold portraits: dense, square, mosaic-like gardens full of flowers. This one is a wall of greens with sunflowers and bright blossoms scattered through it. There is no gold, no figure and no fine detail — just hundreds of cheerful, similar-sized sections. Difficulty: easy to medium. Time: 20 to 25 hours. Best for: a first Klimt, gardeners, kitchens. See the Farmer's Garden kit.
Hygieia, The Virgin, Death and Life
Three less-expected choices. Hygieia, the goddess of health with her snake and golden robe, is a striking vertical figure on a dark ground — dramatic and surprisingly straightforward to paint. The Virgin is a swirl of sleeping women wrapped in patterned cloth, all color and ornament. Death and Life sets a skeleton against a flowering column of figures — the most unusual picture in the range and a conversation piece on any wall. All three are medium to hard and take 25 to 40 hours.
Which one to choose
| If you want… | Choose |
|---|---|
| The famous one | The Kiss |
| The easiest start | Farmer's Garden with Sunflowers |
| The biggest challenge | Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I |
| A wide canvas for above a sofa | Water Serpents II |
| A gift for a couple | The Kiss |
| Something nobody else has | Hygieia or Death and Life |
Making the gold glow
- Paint the gold shades in order, lightest last. The pale highlights over the deeper ochres are what create the metallic effect. Two coats on the lightest gold.
- Keep the pattern sections crisp. Unlike Monet, Klimt wants hard edges: a small round brush, loaded only at the tip. See our brush guide.
- Do the faces first. They are the only shaded areas, and doing them while you are fresh gives the best result; the pattern around them is relaxing work for later evenings.
- Gloss varnish, always. This is the one range where gloss is not optional: it turns the yellows into something that genuinely shines. Our sealing guide explains two thin coats.
- A slim gold or black frame finishes a Klimt better than wood. See the framing guide.
Frequently asked questions
Is The Kiss paint by numbers difficult?
Medium. The cloak and meadow are many small sections, but each is a simple flat shape. Allow 25 to 35 hours and use a fine brush for the pattern.
Which Klimt paint by numbers is easiest?
Farmer's Garden with Sunflowers: no gold, no figures, just hundreds of similar flower and leaf sections in bright colors.
Does the kit use real gold paint?
No. The gold is built from several shades of yellow and ochre. Painted lightest-last and finished with gloss varnish, it reads as gold from normal viewing distance.
What size are the Klimt kits?
16 × 20 inches (40 × 50 cm), with the option of a wooden frame, including numbered paints and three brushes.
Is Klimt suitable for a beginner?
The Farmer's Garden, yes. The Kiss is a good second canvas. Adele Bloch-Bauer is better left until you have finished a few.
Which varnish should I use on a Klimt?
Gloss. It is what makes the golds shine. Two thin coats, brushed in opposite directions.
Bring a little Vienna home
Every Klimt in the shop is in the Klimt collection. For softer color, see our Monet guide; for bolder strokes, the Van Gogh guide; and the whole famous artists collection is there when you want to keep going.
