(Vienna 1862–1918)
“Tafelfreuden”/ Table delights, Study for the city theatre in Karlsbad (today Karoly Vary, Cz), oil and crayon on paper on canvas, 52 x 63 cm, framed

This work is accompanied by certificates on authenticity by Christian M. Nebehay, Vienna (1989), Gerbert Frodl, Belvedere Vienna (1992) and by Peter Kovacek, Vienna (2000).

Provenance:
Renée von Prehm-Horvat de Muranicz, Germany
via her granddaughter Elisabeth de Robiano, Brussels/Vienna from 21. 12. 1985 on commission
Christian M. Nebehay, Vienna, sold 11. 7. 1986
Otto Glaser (1926–2017), Dublin (purchased by the above)
Private Collection, Ireland (by descent by the above)

Registered and illustrated in:
Alfred Weidinger (ed.), Gustav Klimt. Kommentiertes Gesamtverzeichnis des malerischen Werkes, Prestel Verlag, München 2007, p. 242, cat. no. 54, ill.
Tobias G. Natter, Gustav Klimt. Sämtliche Gemälde, Taschen Verlag Köln 2022, p. 479, cat. no. 47, ill. p. 480

Compare:
Tafelfreuden, ceiling painting in the city theatre in Karlsbad / Karlovy Vara, published in: Michaela Seiser, Die Künstler-Compagnie: Das Frühwerk Gustav Klimts, in: Weidinger (ed.), Klimt 2007, p. 232 and in: Natter 2021, p. 479, no. 48; further Jiri Koudelka, „Malirska Vyzdoba Karlovarskeho Divadla“, in: Lazensky Casopis Karlovsky, issue 7 (1957), p. 3–5.)
Various pencil studies for the painting in: Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen, Salzburg 1980, vol. I, no. 123 and 124

In 1886 the famous theatre architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer ordered the association “Künstlercompagnie” of the brothers Klimt and Franz Matsch to execute four ceiling paintings, a prosceniums painting and the curtain in their newly built city theatre of Karlsbad (today Karlovy Vara). Gustav Klimt painted two of them, choosing the themes Tafelfreuden (Table delights) and Tanz (Dance), his partner Franz Matsch completed the other two and his brother Ernst Klimt painted one. The new theater was opened on May 15, 1886, a small booklet Die malerische Ausschmückung des Stadttheaters in Karlsbad was already published a year later.

Only this painting is known as a study for the ceiling paintings and it clearly captures the later composition of the Tafelfreuden with only minor deviations. An elegant lady in a white dress lovingly hands a glass to a little girl, while on the other side of the table another young woman talks to a gallant gentleman. Klimt also included the later stucco edging of the ceiling painting in the draft and executed the right side with gold paint in greater detail. It is very likely that the three ladies at the table are Klimt‘s sisters Hermine, Klara and Johanna (Seiser, 2007, p. 242 and Koudelka, 1957, p. 3–5.)

In contrast to the strong colours and clearly executed shapes of the ceiling painting, the design impresses with spontaneity and delicate lightness in the implementation of the artistic idea