the Emilie convex mirror

The Emilie convex mirror is a relative to my Adele mirror.

But Emilie is unique. The half dome mirror is surrounded by spikes of rock crystal quartz points. Some very clear and some with a hint of smoke. The mirror had a trim of clear cabochons.

Emilie is about 10 inches in diameter. It hangs in my studio pending being shipped to one of my showrooms.

Jewelry for Walls!

The Emilie convex mirror is named after the splendid portrait painted by Gustav Klimt. Emilie Flöge was the muse, lover, companion and friend of the greast artist. She and her older sister Helene were the owners of a couture house called Schwestern Flöge (Flöge Sisters), the leading salon of Vienna’s bohemian fashion world, serving the progressive elite the freshest modern styles. Emilie was both a successful business woman and a fashion rebel, evolving her dramatic take on the Reformkleider, flowing garments that allowed women to move freely, and eschewed the brutal corsetry of the 18th century in favor of bold pattern and draped prints that would look at home on today’s runways.

Emilie likely met Gustav Klimt through her sister Helene, who married Ernst Klimt, Gustav’s brother. Ernst died in 1892, leaving Helene under Gustav’s guardianship. Emilie was 18 when her sister was widowed, and over the following years she spent summers with Gustav at the Flöge family home on Lake Attersee.

Historians are inveterate gossips, so naturally the relationship between Klimt and Emilie Flögs has been the subject of salacious speculation. Gustav was 12 years older than Emilie, and an infamous womanizer—never marrying, but fathering at least 14 children. Was Emilie his lover? Does Klimt’s seminal painting The Kiss depict the artist embracing Emilie? Maybe. In Vienna: Art and Design, Frances Lindsey writes: “While it may have begun as infatuation, it matured into a close relationship that was intellectually and emotionally intimate rather than physical.”

Whatever their early relationship, Emilie Floge and Gustav Klimt became inseparable friends, a relationship that lasted for 27 years, until Klimt’s death in 1918. Klimt sent hundreds of postcards and letters to Emilie, many of which are preserved in private collections. On his death, she inherited half of his estate. The artist’s last words were were to call out for his lifetime partner and friend, “Get Emilie”

Thanks to the www.arthistoryproject.com for the above. Could not have encapsulated the subject better. Great site!