Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Gustav Klimt’s work is highly recognizable around the world. He has a reputation as being one of the foremost painters of his time. He is regarded as one the leaders in the Viennese Secessionist movement. During his lifetime and up until the mid-twentieth century, Klimt’s work was not known outside the European art world.

Gustav Klimt was born on July 14, 1862 in Baumgarten, near Vienna. He was the second child of seven born to a Bohemian engraver of gold and silver. His father’s profession must have rubbed off on his children. Klimt’s brother Georg became a goldsmith, his brother Ernst joined Gustav as a painter.

At the age of 14, Klimt went to the School of Arts and Crafts at the Royal and Imperial Austrian Museum for Art and Industry in Vienna along with his brother. Klimt’s training was in applied art techniques like fresco painting, mosaics and the history of art and design. He did not have any formal painting training. Klimt, his brother Ernst and friend Franz Matsch earned a living creating architectural decorations on commission. They worked on villas and theaters and made money on the side by painting portraits.

Klimt’s major break came when the trio helped their teacher paint murals in Kunsthistorische Museum in Vienna. His work helped him begin gain the job of painting interior murals and ceilings in large public buildings on the Ringstraße, including a successful series of "Allegories and Emblems". His work on murals in the Burgtheater in Vienna earned him in 1888 a Golden order of Merit by Franz Josef I of Austria and he became an honorary member of the University of Munich and the University of Vienna.

In 1892 Klimt’s brother Ernst and his father died so Gustav took over the financial responsibilities for his family. It was also during this time he met Emilie Louise Floge, his good friend, and possibly the model for The Kiss.

Gustav Klimt was one of the founding members of the Secessionist Art Movement in Vienna and the organization’s president in 1897. The Secessionist movement’s goals were to provide exhibitions for unconventional young artists, to bring the works of the best foreign artists to Vienna, and to publish its own magazine to showcase the work of members. The group did not encourage a particular style and included all styles. The group revolted against the traditional, academic art The Viennese government supported their efforts and gave the Secessionists an exhibition hall. The group's symbol was Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of just causes, wisdom, and the arts, and Klimt painted his version in 1898.

In 1898 Klimt was commissioned to paint 3 paintings for the Great Hall at the University of Vienna called Philosophy, Medicine and Jurisprudence. In 1902 Klimt painted the piece called Beethoven Frieze. This piece was painted on the walls of the basement in the Secessionist building for the Fourteenth Secessionist exhibition which featured Beethoven as its theme. He painted the face of Beethoven to look like Vienna Court Opera director Gustav Mahler with whom Klimt had a respectful relationship.

During this period Klimt did not just paint for public commissions. Beginning in the late 1890s, he would take annual summer vacations with the Floge family on the shores of the Attersee and painted landscapes there. These landscapes were painted by Klimt to make them appear flattened in a single plane and it is thought that Klimt painted them while looking through a telescope.

Klimt’s Golden Phase marked both his financial and critical success. In the pieces from this period Klimt incorporated a significant amount of gold leaf. Klimt traveled little in his life but he did visit Venice and Ravenna, Italy during this time period. Both towns were famous for their gold leafed Byzantinne mosaics. These trips probably were the inspiration for his golden artistic period. The Kiss (1907- 08) and The Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907) were both painted in the period.

Klimt lived a simple life devoted to his art, his family and the Secessionist movement. He wore long flowing robes and sandals. He avoided the café society and didn’t spend much time with other artists. His fame brought him many potential clients but Klimt could be selective on the projects he took. His painting method was very deliberate and painstaking and could require lengthy sittings by his subjects. In 1911 his paining Death and Life received first prize in the world exhibitions in Rome. In 1915 his mother Anna died. In 1918 Klimt died in Vienna on Feb 6th having suffered a stroke and having pnemonia due to the flu epidemic of that year. He was buried at the Hietzinger Cemetery in Hietzing, Vienna. Klimt left many paintings unfinished.

Klimt's paintings have brought some of the highest prices recorded for individual works of art. In November 2003, Klimt's Landhaus am Attersee sold for $29,128,000, but that sale was soon eclipsed by prices paid for other Klimts.

In 2006, the 1907 portrait, Adele Bloch-Bauer I, was purchased for the Neue Galerie New York by Ronald Lauder reportedly for US $135 million, surpassing Picasso's 1905 Boy With a Pipe (sold May 5, 2004 for $104 million), as the highest reported price ever paid for a painting.

Viennese Jugendstil or Viennese Art Nouveau:

Art Nouveau was a movement that swept through the decorative arts and architecture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Generating enthusiasts throughout Europe and beyond, the movement issued in a wide variety of styles, and, consequently, it is known by various names, such as the Glasgow Style, or, in the German-speaking world, Jugendstil. Art Nouveau was aimed at modernizing design, seeking to escape the eclectic historical styles that had previously been popular. Artists drew inspiration from both organic and geometric forms, evolving elegant designs that united flowing, natural forms with more angular contours. The movement was committed to abolishing the traditional hierarchy of the arts, which viewed so-called liberal arts, such as painting and sculpture, as superior to craft-based decorative arts, and ultimately it had far more influence on the latter. The style went out of fashion after it gave way to Art Deco in the 1920s, but it experienced a popular revival in the 1960s, and it is now seen as an important predecessor

The Kiss

1907- 8

72”X72” Austrian Gallery Vienna, Austria

The Kiss is Klimt’s most popular work. This piece is widely considered a masterpiece of the early modern period. It is a symbol of Vienna Jugendstil— Viennese Art Nouveau—and is considered Klimt's most popular work. This was the height of Klimt’s ‘Golden Period’. This piece captures the spirit of fin-de-siecle (or end of the century) with its decadence and opulence.

The Kiss is 72x72 inches, a square. The painting is made of oil paint and layers of gold leaf. The figures in the painting are life size. The Kiss is Klimt’s response to the Byzantine mosaic in the Church of San Vitale at Ravenna, Italy in 1903 which affected him so significantly. Klimt liked the flatness of the mosaics and their lack of perspective which enhanced the golden brilliance of the pieces.

Cupola of the choir: An Angel Offers a Model of The Church to Bishop Ecclesius, Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy

He painted a number of pieces in the gilded style. The use of gold gives the piece a medieval feel, the spiral patterns of the robe also recall the Bronze Age art with decorative curls seen since before classical times. The position of the head of the man near the top of the painting is seen in many Japanese prints so is the simple composition of the piece.

This piece focuses on love between two people and how Iove envelops the universe.

The figures are situated on the edge of a patch of a flowery meadow. The figures are embracing with the man holding the woman’s face kissing her cheek. The figures are wrapped in a golden blanket. The man’s coat features strong, black and grey rectangular blocks irregularly placed on gold leaf and decorated with spirals. This coat is influenced by the Art Nouveau style that focused on line and construction. The man wears a crown of vines. The woman’s dress features spinning circles of bright flower motifs and parallel wavy lines which are influenced by the organic forms of the Arts and Crafts movement. Her hair is sprinkled with flowers and it is pulled up on her head which forms a halo-like circle that highlights her face and is continued under her chin and looks like a necklace of flowers. From the coats, a golden rain blesses the earth.

It is thought that Klimt and his friend Emilie Floge were the models for the work but there is no evidence to prove it.

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Discussion Questions for the class:

What do you think the title is?

What colors do you see? gold, black, blue, red, pink, green

What time of day is it? How do you know? Nighttime, dark sky, stars

Where are the people? How can you tell? On the edge of a meadow, green grass, flowers

Is there a lot of background or a little? A little.

Why do you think the artist had little background? To show the importance of the people

What shapes do you see? Rectangles, circles, swirls, curves, flowers

Are the clothes the people are wearing similar to everyday clothes? No the man is wearing a robe, woman has a fancy dress, old fashioned- knights, medieval feel

The clothing has lots of detail. How would the painting feel if the clothes were solid colors? Boring, bland, not as fancy not as important

What does the gold add to the piece? Richness, decorative, brightness, importance, fancy, wealth

What if Klimt had not used gold or any metallic leaf in the painting? It would not look as bright or fancy

How do you think the man feels about the lady? Love – Klimt loved to paint paintings about love

Do you like this piece?

What would you change in this piece?

Would you want this piece in your house?