Klimt Turquoise Pendant

DESIGNER'S NOTES

This classic silver plated pendant features a turquoise interpretation of the polka dot pattern from the painting Die Hoffnung II (1907-08) by the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt.

Polka dots in Hungarian and Austrian visual culture carry layered meanings of festivity, folk tradition, and social signalling. Originating in 19th-century Central Europe, the pattern appeared in peasant textiles, particularly in Hungary, where circular motifs on aprons and dresses symbolised fertility, protection, and continuity.

In Austrian contexts, dots migrated into decorative arts and fashion, reflecting bourgeois taste for playful ornamentation. Klimt integrated polka-like forms into his compositions not merely as decoration but as symbolic punctuation, evoking cycles of life, femininity, and the interplay between sensuality and order.

In works such as Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II, subtle circular motifs echo folk memory while elevating personal identity, linking ancestral symbolism to modernist abstraction and the aura of Viennese Secessionist elegance.

STYLING

The pendant is a few centimetres in diameter with a 450mm chain, so style outside high necklines, or against the skin with lower necklines. Wear with jewellery of similar scale, such as a simple silver bracelet.