Mit angezogenen Schenkeln kauernder Mädchenakt. 1903.
Colored crayon drawing in blue.
Strobl 1009. On packaging paper. 30.6 x 44.5 cm (12 x 17.5 in), size of sheet. [CH].

• Preliminary study for Klimt's famous painting "Danaë" (1907/08).
• With the depiction of Danaë, Klimt reference a legend from Greek mythology in which Zeus unites with the caged Danaë in form of a golden shower.
• With the "Danaë", Klimt depicts the sex act in a superelevated manner and gives a highly erotic connotation to the beautiful female nude.
• Thematically, the depiction must be seen in connection with Klimt's famous works "Hoffnung I" (National Gallery of Art, Ottawa), "Hoffnung II" (Museum of Modern Art, New York) or "Der Kuss" (Belvedere, Vienna).
• In the present study, Klimt particularly references the pose of Leda in Michaelangelo's lost painting of the same name (copy from around 1529/1530 at the National Gallery, London)
• In 1970 in the important exhibition at Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt, in which Klimt's drawings were juxtaposed with those of Matisse, as both put focus on the (contour) line.

PROVENANCE: Serge Sabarsky Collection (1912-1996), New York.
Serge Sabarsky Estate, New York (1996).
Vally Sabarsky Collection (1909-2002), New York.
Vally Sabarsky Foundation, New York.

EXHIBITION: Internationale der Zeichnung. Sonderausstellungen Gustav Klimt und Henri Matisse, Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt, 1970, cat. no. 61 (with illu.).
Gustav Klimt, Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, January 29 - February 24, 1981, cat. no. 42.
Gustav Klimt. 100 disegni, Pinacoteca Capitolina, Rome, July 26 - October 3, 1983, Palazzo della Permanente, Milan, January 10 - February 28, 1984, Castel Mareccio / Schloss Maretsch, Bolzano/Bozen, March to May 1984, cat. no. 29.
Gustav Klimt. Zeichnungen, Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien, July 7 - September 16, 1984, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover, September 25 - October 10, 1984, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, November 29, 1984 to January 27, 1985, Neue Galerie / Wolfgang-Gurlitt-Museum, Linz, February 5 - April 8, 1985, cat. no. 47.
Gustav Klimt, 100 Zeichnungen, Josef Albers Museum Quadrat Bottrop, June 9 - August 4, 1985,
Gustav Klimt. 100 disegni, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence, January 11 - April 3, 1986, Accademia di Belle Arti, Naples, April 18 - June 1, 1986, Castello Ivano, Trient, as of June 28, 1986, cat. no. 29.
Gustav Klimt, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny, November 28, 1986 to January 25, 1987, cat. no. 29.
Gustav Klimt, 100 Zeichnungen, Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck, February 6 - March 15, 1987, Schloss Plankenwarth, Graz, July to August 1987, cat. no. 29.
Europalia 87 Austria: Gustav Klimt, Musées Royaux des Beaux Arts de Belgique, Brussels, September 17 - December 16, 1987, cat. no. 66.
Gustav Klimt, 100 Zeichnungen, Schloss Halbturn, May 3 to October 1988, Städtische Galerie Rosenheim, February 16 - April 2, 1989, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn (NY), June 2 - November 25, 1989.
Gustav Klimt, 100 Zeichnungen, Jahrhunderthalle Hoechst, Hoechst / Frankfurt am Main, October 1 - November 25, 1990, Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren, January 27 - March 10, 1991, cat. no. 24.
Gustav Klimt, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, December 1, 1991 to March 16, 1992.
Gustav Klimt, 100 Zeichnungen, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, April 14 -May 27, 1992.
Gustav Klimt, Palacu Sztuki, Cracow, June 9 - July 12, 1992.
Gustav Klimt. 100 Zeichnungen, Städtische Galerie Lovis-Kabinett, Villingen-Schwenningen, July 25 - September 27, 1992, cat. no. 24.
Gustav Klimt. 100 Drawings, Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston (SC), May 28 - June 13, 1993.
Gustav Klimt. 100 Zeichnungen, Museum moderner Kunst, Passau, June 12 - August 28, 1994, cat. no. 24.
Gustav Klimt. Dessins, Musée-Galerie de la Seita, Paris, October 5 - November 30, 1994, cat. no. 24.
Gustav Klimt. 100 kreseb, Císaiská konírna, Prague, May 24 - July 23, 1995, cat. no. 24.
Klimt, Schiele, Kokoschka, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, May 20 - August 14, 1995 (not in cat.).
Gustav Klimt. 100 Zeichnungen; Städtische Galerie, Klagenfurt, May 22 - September 21, 1997, cat. no. 24.
Schiele, Klimt, Kokoschka. Einblicke in die Wiener Zeit, Warhol Family Museum of Modern Art, Medzilaborce, June 5 - August 29, 1999.

LITERATURE: Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen, vol. I (1878-1903), Salzburg 1980, cat. no. 1009, pp. 290f. (with illu.).
Susanna Partsch, Klimt. Life and Work, London 1989, p. 13 (with illu.).