Paintings of Empowered Women With a Lethal Touch

How femme fatales represent male fears in art

Detail of ‘Judith and the Head of Holofernes’ (1901) by Gustav Klimt. Oil on canvas. 84 × 42 cm. Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, Austria. Image source Wikimedia Commons

Just look at Gustav Klimt’s portrait of Judith.

Meet her gaze — those narrowing eyes — and note the intimacy we are given to her erotic recoil.

Now remember that in her hands she is clutching the decapitated head of Holofernes by his hair.

The biblical heroine has just slain the Assyrian general after an evening of drink and seduction behind enemy lines. Here Klimt has depicted sex and death as two edges of the same sword.

Judith and the Head of Holofernes (1901) by Gustav Klimt. Oil on canvas. 84 × 42 cm. Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, Austria. Image source Wikimedia Commons

Now turn your attention to Franz von Stuck’s painting The Kiss of the Sphinx, which again shows us the ruthless capability of womankind. A man kneels with his head tilted backwards and his neck vulnerable while the woman-headed lion appears to devour him.

The Kiss of the Sphinx (1895) by Franz von Stuck. Oil on canvas. 150 × 144.8 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary. Image source Wikimedia Commons

There is less intimacy here compared to the Klimt painting, and the colour scheme is more theatrical — more sturm und drang — as we witness the viper-like…