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Sharon,
Hmmm...when I saw the Klimts you posted before I thought the faces are most definitely the focal points. So in a sense you could say the backgrounds "stay back," though they don't really, because they give the illusion of space since they are abstract mosaics of shapes and colors. This last one is different because the head and the flowers are pretty much equally dominant. This gives rise to two thoughts:
1) It seems there are many ways to make the background stay back. Even if the picture plane is really shallow, and even if we are not creating an illusion of space.
2)I wonder whether the shift in balance between figure and ground is partly what distinguishes a portrait from a figurative painting. Personally I don't think there is a clear distinction between the two.
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