Gustav Klimt – Symbolist Painting - Legend
Gustav Klimt was born on July 14th 1862 in Baumgarten, near the Austrian town of Vienna. He was the second child of seven children – four girls and three boys born to Anna Klimt and Ernst Klimt. Ernst Klimt was an immigrant from Bohemia. Anna Klimt (nee Finster) had ambitions to be a musical performer. Gustav spent much of his childhood in poverty as work was scarce and financial advancement was difficult at the time for immigrants.
All three of Ernst’s sons were artistically talented and in 1876, Gustav was awarded a scholarship at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts. Klimt studied at the school for seven years and received training as an architectural painter. Klimt was greatly influenced by the talents of the Hans Makart, the most renowned history painter of the time, and Klimt was a willing pupil and accepted the principles of a conservative training. Indeed, his early works are generally classed as academic. In 1877, Ernst, Gustav’s brother, who would later become an engraver like his father, was also awarded a scholarship at the school. Together Gustav and Ernst along with their friend, Franz Matsch, began working as a team known as the ‘Company of Artists”, and they painted murals for the Kunsthistorsiches, Museum in Vienna. Here Gustav learned his trade before entering the profession as a ceiling and interior mural painter for large public buildings. He created a successful series called “Allegories and Emblems”.
At the age of twenty six, Klimt was awarded the Golden Order of Merit form the Franz Josef, Emperor of Austria for his mural contributions in the Burgtheater in Vienna. In 1892 tragedy struck the Klimt family when Ernst, the father, and Ernst, the son, both died. Young Gustav then had to take responsibility financially for both his brother’s and father’s families. The death of his brother and father did have an effect on his artistic vision and as such he developed a new personal style. Klimt met Emilie Floge in the early 1890s and although she was his companion for the rest of his life, Klimt did have relationships with other women. He is known to have fathered at least fourteen children.
In 1897 Klimt, one of the founding members became President of the Wiener Secession and also of the Sacred Spring, the group’s periodical. The Group’s goals were to publish its own magazine, provide exhibitions for avant-garde young artists, and to bring the best foreign artists to Vienna to showcase their work. The group had no manifesto and did not set out to encourage any particular style -symbolists, Naturalists, and Realists all existed together peacefully. The government was supportive and allowed them to erect an exhibition hall on public land. Pallas Athena, the Greek Goddess of wisdom, the arts and causes, was the group’s symbol.
Klimt was commissioned to decorate the ceiling in the Great Hall of the University of Vienna in 1894. This involved three paintings, Philosophy, Jurisprudence, and Medicine – which were not completed until the turn of the century. All were heavily criticized for their material and radical themes, which was labelled pornographic. By transforming symbolism and traditional allegory in to a new language which was more sexual, the public found it disturbing and their outcry came from all quarters, including religious, aesthetic and political, and as a result the paintings were never displayed on the ceiling of the Great Hall. In 1945, all three paintings were destroyed by retreating forces.
In 1899, Klimt painted Nuda Verita and succeeded in his bid to shake the establishment further. Perhaps Schiller summed Klimt up when he said,” If you cannot please everyone with your deeds and your art, please a few. To please many is bad."
The Beethoven Frieze, which was supposed to be a celebration of the composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, was completed by Klimt in 1902. Intended only as an exhibition piece, the frieze was painted directly on to the walls with light material. However, the work was preserved and eventually went on public display in 1986.
Klimt took summer holidays to Attersee with Emilie Floge and during this time he painted his landscapes. Although Klimt’s main interest was figures, landscapes are the only other genre that interested him. His landscapes are considered to be as refined of emphatic patterning and design as the figural pictures he painted.
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Klimt Paintings
oil paintings
Gustav Klimt Biography
Austrian Gustav Klimt produced some of the most recognized and symbolic canvas art works of the twentieth century during his rather short lifetime: Unquestionably, one of those is ‘The Kiss’ which has been admired around the world since it was first created in 1907 and currently on permanent display at the Belvedere gallery in Vienna. Another of Klimt’s most highly revered oil paintings is 'Judith and the Head of Holofernes' – Also on display at the Belvedere and produced in 1901. ‘Portrait of Adèle Bloch-Bauer’ (1907) made history recently when it was purchased by a NY Gallery owner for $135Million: At the time making this Portrait the most expensive canvas art works in the world.
All these paintings reflect what has become instantly recognized and referred to as Klimt's ‘gold’ oil paintings. Distinctly styled they feature the female form - Gustav Klimt’s main subject matter. Klimt’s painterly technique was highly original: His canvas art works and sketches famous (and somewhat infamous) for their direct approach to eroticism. Klimt’s interest in Oriental prints and gold laden Byzantine Mosaics is particularly evident in the geometric, decorative and somewhat two dimensional patterns which dominate his gold oil paintings. In addition, it is no surprise for us to learn, his father was an engraver who primarily worked in gold – Undoubtedly, sparking the initial interest and fascination of this color upon the young Gustav Klimt.
Gustav Klimtwas born on July 14th, 1862. Unfortunately his artistic life was relatively short: He died from a brain hemorrhage at the age of 53 on February 6th, 1918. Nevertheless, he was a prolific artist throughout and produced many art works during his lifetime. Even so, it was the ‘Gold’ oil paintings of Gustav Klimt produced from around 1901 that would mark his breakthrough into the world of artistic and critical acclaim. Indeed, Gustav Klimt’s gold oil paintings continue to be his legacy to the arts today. Indeed, after this Glimt would be able to selectively choose from the many patrons who would actively seek him out.
Klimt was what could be described as an unusual animal. He rarely travelled outside of Vienna and avoided the ‘cafe life’ that was so very popular among artists of the day. He led a fairly simple life that was devoted to his work – This was an artist who spent his days donned in a dressing gown and sandals, refining his style and actively producing work. Indeed it is well documented, apart from his family and his work Gustav Klimt’s only other interest was the Vienna Secessionist Movement: And as it is widely noted, women.
Gustav Klimt was a founder member and president of the Secessionist Movement formed in 1897. This was a highly progressive group of artists and craftsmen whose purpose was to challenge existing artistic traditions and redefine the role of the arts within society as a whole. This would be achieved by providing opportunities for younger more unconventional artists to show their work publically. Unlike many artistic groups, the Secessionists did not advocate any particular style or artistic philosophies other than the freedom to work outside of traditional confines: Making them highly unique and most certainly radical.
Gustav Klimt was both revered and rebuked for his radical approach to oil painting. Some found Klimt’s approach to his pictorial allegories as disturbingly overt – even pornographic. His methodology was deliberate and precise: His models would be required to pose for lengthy sittings due to the painstaking way he produced his canvas art works. While much has been discussed with regards to the personal life of this artist, he himself rarely (if ever) disclosed details: Unlike many artists no memories or manifestos were ever produced by Gustav Klimt.
Some of Klimt’s more favored patrons included Otto and Eugenia Primavesi and The Flöge family. Many of Klimt’s portraits are of patrons and lovers - who were often one and the same person: Kustav Klimt is believed to have produced fourteen children illegitimately. His portrait of Eugenia Primavesi is a particularly vibrant example of his later style which turned toward Expressionism.
In a postcard to the Flöge family with whom he took a yearly holiday to Lake Attersee Gustav Klimt reveals and explains his outlook upon his work and his life: "I am less interested in myself as a subject for a painting than I am in other people, above all women...There is nothing special about me. I am a painter who paints day after day from morning to night...Whoever wants to know something about me... ought to look carefully at my pictures."
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