Gustav Klimt

description

An outstanding Austrian artist of Jewish origin, a decorator, a master of monumental painting, who played a big role in the development of Art Nouveau.

His father was a hereditary jeweller from Bohemia but did not have a stable income. His mother, Anna Finster, was an academic but not very successful musician. Gustav was the second of seven children of a Jewish family. Klimts were poor, in the early years of the Habsburg Empire, the work was not enough, especially for ethnic minorities. At an early age, Gustav and his two brothers, Ernst and Georg, showed their obvious artistic talents, and Gustav was noted as an exceptional draftsman.

Gustav Klimt was one of the founders of the Vienna Secession – the association of progressive artists who protested against traditional painting. He became the first President of the Secession and the organizer of exhibitions of the society. Since 1898, Klimt had collaborated with the art magazine named “Sacred Spring”, in which the works of Symbolists Beardsley, Moreau, Puvis de Chavannes were published. The artist’s work, aimed at introducing avant-garde trends in Austrian painting. He played a crucial role in the development of the country’s fine arts of the early twentieth century.

Key ideas:

– Gustav Klimt’s paintings are bright, original and exciting, enjoying extreme popularity from the moment of their creation to the present day. They have a unique charm and sublimity of Art Noveau, its courage and shock.

– The artist’s works are characterised by a flat linear style and increased decorativeness. Their main feature is unique sensuality and eroticism.

– The paintings are full of deep symbols; their characters are surrounded by a secret and mystical halo. In many works, there are eternal themes of life and death, joy and sorrow. The author used voluminous modelling of the open parts of figures on a flat ornamental background.

– A favourite theme of the artist was the depiction of women, both portraits and nudity. The heroines of Klimt’s paintings often appear as mythological and unearthly creatures; they are distantly beautiful and surrounded by wealth and luxury. To emphasise these qualities, the artist used real gold leaf in some paintings. Klimt gave particular importance to the environment of the main object of the image, carefully painting patterns on clothes, ornaments and the background.

– The line plays a significant role in Klimt’s paintings. Though it is almost invisible in itself, the artist delimits space and separates the zones of solid colour from planes decorated with magnificent ornamentation with its help. This technique creates a distinctive rhythm in the canvases, making them extraordinarily expressive.

– Despite the abundance of details, the artist’s works do not create a sense of congestion but retain the severity and clarity of lines inherent in Art Nouveau.

– Apart from female images, the artist loved to paint nature. He created landscapes mainly in the summer while relaxing at picturesque lake Attersee. In them, Klimt retains his individual style, transferring the energy of nature through the asymmetry of the composition and the free use of planes close in tonality. In landscape painting, the artist uses smaller strokes, creating a whimsical pattern of plants and flowers.

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1862

1876

1883

1888

1897

1900 - 1904

1902

1905

1910

1915

1918

The birth of the artist

Gustav Klimt was born on July 14, 1862 in Baumgarten, Austria-Hungary.

He perfectly passed the entrance exam at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts

He perfectly passed the entrance exam at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts, intending to become a master of drawing and take up the teaching position in Burgershule. Primarily, he got a degree in architecture and painting. The methods of teaching were traditional. From the very beginning, Klimt impressed teachers with the skill of drawing and was soon enrolled in a special class with an emphasis on painting. Together with his brother Ernst and their common friend, Franz Match, on the recommendation of Ferdinand Laufberger, the professor of painting, he worked on the decoration of public buildings.

Together with the Match, he rented a large studio in Vienna

Together with the Match, he rented a large studio in Vienna. Despite the fact that the artists were in great demand among the cultural elite of the city, financial difficulties haunted them. In 1885, the young artists, working on the design of the new Burgtheater, one of the most prestigious theaters in Europe, found out that they could not afford to hire models – as a result, they asked their families for help. Today in the Shakespeare Theater you can see Hermin and Johann, the sisters of Klimt, and his brother George is depicted in the image of Romeo. There is, among others, the only survived self-portrait of G. Klimt. Later, the artists were assigned to paint in the Vienna Museum of Art History.

Emperor Franz Joseph awarded Klimt the Order of the Golden Cross for his services in art

Emperor Franz Joseph awarded Klimt the Order of the Golden Cross for his services in art. Klimt became a member of the Association of Artists Kunstlerhaus. In 1892, one by one, Klimt’s father and brother died, which deeply affected Gustav. He was in the house of his brother’s widow and met her sister Emilie Floge, who became his model for the rest of his life and his beloved woman (they did not marry).

He refused from the membership in the Kunstlerhaus Association

Together with several other artists and designers, he refused from the membership in the Kunstlerhaus Association, as the jury favored conservative works and refused to admit artists-innovators. Klimt became one of the founders of the association named “Vienna Secession” and its first president. The Union included Joseph Hoffmann, Koloman Moser, Joseph Maria Olbrich. In the same year, the publication of “Sacral Spring” magazine, where the works of Symbolists and Modernists were published, began. The fundamental principles of Secession were: to give young and non-traditional artists the opportunity to show their works, to invite works of foreign artists (first of all, the French Impressionists, whom Kunstlerhaus rejected) to Vienna.

The artist did not take up state orders and did not decorate public buildings

His works “Philosophy”, “Medicine” and “Jurisprudence”, designed to decorate the ceiling of the main building of the University of Vienna, were severely criticized because of their expansive content. After that, the artist did not take up state orders and did not decorate public buildings.

"Beethoven Frieze"

By the 14th exhibition of the Secession, dedicated to the anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven, Klimt created his famous “Beethoven Frieze” – a massive and complex work, where paradoxically there was no direct mention of the works of Beethoven, but there was a lyrical allegory of the creator as God. It was the beginning of the so-called “golden period” in Klimt’s work, when he created his most famous works, in many of which he applied gold leaf and precious stones.

Klimt resigned from the Vienna Secession

Klimt and a number of his associates resigned from the Vienna Secession because of disagreements over the group’s association with local galleries that sought to place art on a commercial stream. Secessionists lacked exhibition spaces, but the founders of the organization (Klimt, Moser, etc.) wanted to keep it free from commercial interests.

He was carried away by work in the open air

Unexpectedly for many, he was carried away by work in the open air. Canvas “Life and Death” received a prize at the World Exhibition in Rome. The artist, moving away from the groups, shared most of his time between the studio and the garden in Heijing, often staying in the Floge family. He received many orders and had many admirers.

The artist's mother died

The artist’s mother died. Two years later, he suffered a stroke, which left him paralyzed on the right side. Deprived of the ability to paint, Klimt plunged into despair, got flu and became one of the victims of the pandemic.