Author(s): Elizabeth Hickey

Fiction

In the tradition of bestsellers such as 'Girl With A Pearl Earring' and 'Girl In Hyacinth Blue', this is an atmospheric and sensual fiction debut about the lifelong affair between Austrian artist Gustav Klimt and his muse, the couturier Emilie Flöge.

Vienna in 1886 was a city of elegant cafés, grand opera houses and a thriving and adventurous artistic community. It was there that twelve-year-old Emilie Flöge met the controversial libertine and painter Gustav Klimt. Hired by her father, a Viennese businessman, to give her some art lessons, Klimt provided Emilie with an education that Mr Flöge would never have dreamed of when he introduced her to the world of struggling artists, models and rich patrons.

'The Painted Kiss' follows the developing relationship between the moody, brilliant Klimt and Emilie, who blossoms from a naïve young girl to a sanguine woman, becoming an acclaimed fashion designer and mistress to one of the twentieth century's most fascinating artists.

'The Painted Kiss' is a passionate love story that is as sensual and compelling as a work by Klimt himself.