The Art of Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter, leader of the Vienna Secession Movement - a group of artists who left the academy of painting and joined Symbolism.

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was born in the small town of Baumgarten, south of Vienna, in Imperial Austria, which in 1867 was replaced by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Son of Ernest Klimt and Anna Finster he was the second of the couple's seven children. At the age of 14 he entered the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts, together with his brother Ernest. Soon the two were drawing and selling portraits from photographs.

In 1879, Gustav, his brother and friend Franz Matsch began to assist their teacher in painting murals for the atrium of the Museum of Art History in Vienna. In 1980 they began to receive orders and carried out various works, among them, four allegories for the roof of the Sturany Palace in Vienna, the roof of the Karlsbad thermal bath building in Czechoslovakia and the decoration of Villa Hermès based on drawings by Hans Makat.

In 1886, when carrying out work for the Vienna Burgthater, Gustav's style began to differ, starting a process of moving away from the academism of conventional painting learned at school. In 1890, Gustav Klimt founded and chaired, together with other artists, the “Austrian Association of Figurative Artists”, with the aim of opposing the conservative Society of Viennese Artists.

Engaged in a new perspective, he developed a production with a strong decorative character, gaining great visibility and being asked to decorate buildings and institutions, such as the decoration of the ceiling and side staircases of the imposing “Teatro Municipal de Viena”, in addition to finishing the decoration project of the “Historical Museum of Art”.

In 1894, he was given the task of painting three large panels for the ceiling of the auditorium of the University of Vienna to represent the figures of Philosophy, Medicine and Jurisprudence. In 1900, he presented his first panel, but left aside the style that had enshrined it. He made use of unusual allegories in which naked female bodies were presented in poses considered obscene, which was the target of criticism and heated controversy. The last panel was only completed in 1907. That same year, he led a group of artists who founded the “Vienna Secession” and adhered to the symbolism - the Austrian version of decorative Art Nouveau.

His most famous works belong to the “golden phase”, in which he uses gold leaves and mainly portrays women adorned by small objects and geometric shapes as in “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer” (1907) and “O Beijo” (1907-1908 ), his masterpiece. He painted with extreme detail, taking his models to very long sections. He was in love with Emílie Flöge, with whom he had a long love affair and was his companion for years.

With his rebellious style of dress, most of the time wrapped in a dark tunic, Gustav Klimt has become an exotic figure. For many years he tried unsuccessfully to be admitted to the Vienna Academy of Art. Only in 1917 did he receive due recognition when he was elected an honorary member of that entity. However, the following year he suffered a stroke.

Gustav Klimt passed away in Vienna, Austria, on February 6, 1918.