Silhoutte by Klimt

Born 14 July 1862, in Baumgarten, Austria (near Vienna), to Ernst Klimt (goldsmith engraver & carver) and wife, Anna (lyricist), Gustav Klimt was the second of seven children. The family lived in extreme poverty, moving often because Ernst Sr. was financially unsuccessful. He had emigrated from Bavaria and was a meticulous craftsman who nurtured his children's interest in art. Gustav and Ernst Jr. became painters and Georg a sculptor and carver, who made beautiful frames for Gustav's paintings. Their mother and one sister suffered from mental illness and after his Mother's death in 1915, his palette darkened. His siblings interacted with him almost daily until his death. His sister said of him: "Like all artists, he also needed a lot of love and above all consideration. After all, he was not naturally gregarious but a loner, and it therefore had to be the duty of his brothers and sisters to eliminate all the little things in his daily life that were inconvenient...We understood his silent coming and going...Once he had gathered strength, he would plunge into his work with such vehemence that we often thought the flames of his genius might consume him alive." ...... Hermine Klimt

Silhoutte by Klimt

In 1876 at age 14, Gustav was accepted by the School of Applied Art which was attached to the Royal and Imperial Austrian Museum for Art and Industry, Vienna. Ernst Jr. was accepted the following year and Georg the next. They learned standard and diverse techniques (e.g. mosaics, fresco painting) with an emphasis on draftsmanship in the Historical Style taught at the Academy. Gustav was promoted to the advanced specialized painting class and worked in a very realistic manner (inspired by Hans Makart). Gustav's talent was recognized by his instructors who encouraged him to accept art commissions such as the ceiling for the Sturany Palace in 1880, which he completed with brother Ernst Jr. and Franz Matsch (1861-1942).


The newly-founded School of Applied Arts was Europe's second crafts school in Europe and its primary function was to train students to create and design outstanding arts and crafts products that could be mass-produced during the latter part of the Industrial Revolution. The Viennese middle-class tried to emulate the aristocracy by purchasing objects for their homes and by supporting the Arts. The results being, at the end of the 1800's, Vienna, the capitol of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, became a center of intense activity in music, literature, painting, sculpture and architecture.

After finishing school in 1883, Gustav and the two men established the Artists' Company; and during the following ten years, became wealthy from commissions creating typical late 19th century academic and representational mural paintings. (e.g. The National Theater of Fiume in Yugoslavia 1883-85; Burgtheater staircase decorations, 1886 and numerous other commissions for theaters, museums and churches).

Klimt published many of his works, won several prizes for his maturing style, and received commissions for the Auditorium at the Old Burgtheater, 1889 (Imperial Award winner), Totis Theater commission from Count Esterhazy (Great Prize Winner in Belgium); and numerous portraits of Viennese patrons (including several men).

Head of Recumbent Man 1886-88 (courtesy of Artchive.com)

Both, Ernst Klimt Sr. and Ernst Jr. died in 1892. Ernst Jr. was very talented and if he had lived, might have been as important as Gustav. Their deaths created a huge vacuum in Gustav's life causing a real emotional crisis. Father Ernst and his sons had shared a deep-seated understanding of each other because of their family's experiences and their mutual artistic respect.

Before their deaths, Gustav believed their commission work had gone well, but later he decided the work was too close to old traditions and needed something fresh. In 1898-99, the Nikolaus Dumba private commission was given to Makart, Matsch and Klimt. Klimt decorated the music room with two paintings. In Music II, 1898, he has moved away from the traditional Historic Style which emphasized three dimensional naturalism. Instead, he flattened the body of the woman at left but gave her a slightly three dimensional face against an abstract, patterned background. The suggestion of "flatness" is one of the defining characteristics of Klimt's emerging Modern stye. In the other painting, Schubert at the Piano, 1899, Klimt favored Impressionism, the avant garde French movement which also helped to usher in modernity in art.

Music II (courtesy of PixelWorks.com)

Gustav and Franz Matsch created decoration drafts for the large amphitheater at the University of Vienna; and based on the drafts, in 1894, received the commission representing the four areas of traditional faculties: theology, philosophy, medicine and jurisprudence. The artists were allowed to create their own ideas, but as the men worked, their relationship quickly deteriorated and terminated.

Philosophy, Medicine, Jurisprudence (all destroyed in early 20th century) (courtesy of PixelWorks.com)

After years of delays, Matsch received the theology commission (never completed) and Gustav was given the other three Faculty Paintings. In contrast to his former easily-understood murals, Klimt created allegorical and mysterious images and during 1900-03 presented the series to the University. The academic faculties were outraged with the works because the images did not reflect their particular academic perceptions. The first panel - Philosophy was labeled simplistic with unclear ideas, drifting forms and nudity (Klimt submitted the unfinished Philosophy to the Paris World Fair and won the Grand Prix in 1900); second panel - Medicine was violently criticized as ambiguous and pornographic; and third panel - Jurisprudence as having the wrong message and symbolism and being different from the approved sketches.

The Culture and Education Ministry's Artistic Advisory Committee rejected the public's requests for canceling the commission. Instead, the committee sent the paintings to the State Gallery of Art where they were shown behind screens. Jurisprudence was not allowed to be shown at the St. Louis 1904 World's Fair. Klimt was outraged and declared the University work unfinished, offered to repay all advances he had received and severed his ties with the State. The committee eventually accepted the fees and the Minister of Education, Ritter von Hartel (who supported Klimt) was blamed for the difficulties and resigned. The drafts were acquired by Koloman Moser and Erich Lederer, and near the end of WWII, the three paintings were burned by retreating SS troops. Klimt never again received the State's patronage, a public commission or a State appointed professorship (just an honorary professorship late in life).


Klimt believed no one person or any institution had the right to either limit his artistic freedom or censor his work and felt his integrity as an artist was threatened. Those beliefs made him one of the "Modern Artists" of the day who influenced later movements and future artists, including those of today.

Without public commissions, Klimt's subject matters and sources of income came from individuals and private organizations. There were very few private art galleries or dealers in Vienna and in order to exhibit local art, artists needed to be a member of the Co-Operative Society of Vienna Artists. Klimt and others tried to initiate Modern, Art Nouveau ideas from within the association, but the ideas were censored, causing Klimt and forty artists to leave the organization and form "The Vienna Secession" in 1897.

Klimt was elected Chairman, his Pallus Athene, 1898 was chosen as the Secession's protector and he created the first exhibition poster which included Theseus, a male nude, fighting a Minotaur. During publication the nude was censored, so Klimt covered the genitals with a thin little tree.

Pallus Athene (courtesy of Artchive.com)

Secession Poster Cover (courtesy of Artchive.com)

The primary aims of the group were: enable exposure for young unconventional artists, bring quality foreign art to Vienna and publish a magazine. Modern progress with individual expression was shared by the group and all disciplines of fine and applied arts (crafts) were to be represented. Based on composer Richard Wagner's theory, the group chose to have every exhibition be "A total work of art...that is larger then the sum of its parts."

In 1898, the journal, Ver Sacrum (sacrifice) was published and the first large International Exhibition was a great success. 131 works by foreign artists and 23 by Viennese painters were presented. 57,000 visitors attended the show, including the Austrian Kaiser, and over one-third of the exhibits sold. From the commissions, the Secession acquired a long-term public land-lease for their exhibition building (still used today). Klimt did the preliminary sketch and Joseph Maria Olbrich designed the building, which was completed in six months. It had simplified, open interiors and adaptable wall spaces so the building could be used for any circumstance and above the main entrance was inscribed, "Give our time its art, and art its freedom."

By 1900, the organization had become Vienna's primary international exhibition center and the city's premier artists' association. Included were painters, sculptors, architects, graphic designers, book illustrators and typographers, furnishings and textile designers, theatrical set and costume designers and other artisans. Vienna's artistic communities were compared to those of London and Paris and forward-thinking International artists and craftsmen showed in the Secession's exhibitions and in turn the members and Vienna were exposed to progressive and modern work being done everywhere.

In 1902, the XIV Secessionist's Exhibition theme was - Ludwig Van Beethoven's "vision of universal brotherhood where the whole of Mankind would be set free of its pains." Works were placed to strengthen the whole presentation rather than according to artists or subjects. (The Secession was the first to use a thematic approach). The exhibition honored Max Klinger with his Beethoven Memorial Sculpture being placed in the main entrance and on opening night Gustav Mailer directed the Fourth Part of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. 58,000 visitors attended.

Beethoven Frieze, Panel Two: Encounters during Struggle (courtesy of PixelWorks.com)

Klimt's fresco painting, Beethoven Frieze, was to be temporary, so it was painted on inexpensive material (has survived and is in the building, today). Klimt had been questioning "The Meaning of Life" and his painting depicts "Mankind's desire to find happiness." There are three main sections that show a medieval knight on his quest or on a journey for human salvation: Panel one - desire for happiness (man is moved to take up the struggle); Panel two - encounters during struggle (fulfillment through poetry and numerous Hostile Forces, illustrated above); Panel three - Salvation (man finds love). The sections have dominant vertical compositions and large flowing areas as the ground (negative space).

Besides the Beethoven Frieze, Klimt participated in many other Secession exhibitions and in 1903 the 18th Exhibition was devoted entirely to him. He was instrumental in the Secession's formation and brought it international recognition because of his stature as a pioneer of Viennese Modernism and as a spokesman. Also, he was a selector for exhibition material, drew graphics and was part of the editorial staff for Ver Sacrum. Eventually, the Secession became divided and several artists left to join groups that supported their own views as did Klimt and several others in 1905, taking with them the Secessionists' motto "Give our time its art, and art its freedom". This group established the Austrian National Union of Artists or "Art Show." The Vienna Secession ceased to be influential after their departure and also because Art Nouveau and other modernist ideas had become accepted within artist associations and schools, including the School of Applied Arts where Gustav had attended.

The Kiss Sketch

The Kiss Stained Glass

The Art Show's purpose was to bring better designed products to everyone, not just the wealthy. In the 1908 Art Show's Exhibition, Klimt was given an entire hall and showed sixteen paintings, including The Kiss, 1907-08. (Other variations are in Beethoven Frieze & Stoclet Frieze). The Kiss represents his work at the height of his "Golden Period." The man is standing while the woman kneels on a raised surface. He turns the woman's head in order to kiss her check while they are involved in the very most private moments of love-making. The couple are enveloped in a golden robe with mosaic patterns. Rectangles represent the man's body and flowers, circles and graceful flowing lines fall over the contours of her body. In contrast to most of Klimt's other sensual images, The Kiss in 1908 was accepted by the critics and the public, just as today it is his most recognized and reproduced artwork.

Klimt's exposure to gold began with his father and at school. He experimented with gold paint and gold leaf throughout his career: first, in his Historic Period - as religious halos and decorative emphasis; next, in his Secession Years - as design elements which directed the eye to emphasized areas; and finally, during his "Golden Period" 1906-09, when gold dominated the painting's middle value and covered most of the surface, creating a "preciousness to the painting".

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer 1, 1907 Puzzle

For example, look at this Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer 1, 1907, a married society woman, from his "Golden Period". Her expressive, naturalistic face, shoulders, arms and hands are in the midst of two-dimensional waves of various shades of textured golds. The flattened decorative gold areas help to balance the three-dimensional head and upper extremities. This model also posed for a second portrait in 1912 as well as an allegorical image of Judith I (1901) as a partially nude femme fatale, who has slain Holofernes.

His Golden Paintings were criticized for being too stylized and old-fashioned. At the 1909 "Art Show" Exhibition, he was influenced by Edward Munch (Expressionism), Matisse, Lautrec and Fauvists' colors. Klimt always changed his work gradually, which he did between his Golden and Last Periods. During his last period, he became so dissatisfied with one of his earlier gold works, Death and Life, 1916 that he painted over the gold.

Adolphe Stoclet commissioned an estate in Brussels for architect Josef Hoffman to design and for Klimt to decorate the dining room with a frieze. His theme was "The New Cycle of Life". The Stoclet Frieze, 1909-11 has a three-part mosaic -- Expectation, Fulfillment and Pattern --which were executed at the Vienna Workshop and utilized the finest and most luxurious materials available including marble, goldleaf, silver and semi-precious stones.

Fulfillment, Stoclet Frieze

Expectation (left), Fulfillment (right), Stoclet Frieze on a Vase

As illustrated above at right, the extremely stylized images are two-dimensional with symbols, e.g. stacked Egyptian eyes, triangles, rectangles, circles, possible seedpods and blackbirds perched on a few branches (represents death). All are scattered throughout the golden spirals that form each Tree of Life. Also, there are shrubs with butterflies, seedlings and flowers on the ground. Expectation depicts a woman (dancer) searching and Fulfillment has an embracing male and female enveloped within a mosaic robe.

Pattern, Stoclet Frieze

The third image, Pattern (at left) is composed mostly of vertical rectangles and open to interpretation -- possibly God, person, new life being created, rebirth or decorative only. The Stoclet Palace influenced the German Bauhaus School and Russian Constructivists. This was Klimt's last wall decoration.

Besides less usage of gold in his Later Period, he made other changes such as replacing patterned symbols with flowers, adding multiple coverlets, simplifying the decoration, making a woman look taller when viewed from below the painting, and illustrating a model's likeness and personality (seldom done by Klimt in his earlier periods).

The Virgin

The Bride

The Virgin, 1913 shows flowers and multiple coverlets. The theme is a virgin's evolution into womanhood. While drawing sketches for the painting, Klimt asked his models to take extreme poses. The Bride (unfinished), 1917-18 was on his easel at his death and shows how he painted his women as nudes and then clothed them. One sketch of the model's back has survived.

Danae

Klimt did erotic images and sketches as well. The painting, Danae, 1907 is an example of his erotic work. The legend concerns her mating with Zeus in the form of a gold shower, in order to conceive Perseus. The small black rectangle is Klimt's abstract symbol for maleness. In 1907, the book publisher J. Zeitler, Leipzig, published some of Klimt's erotic female drawings, which are very explicit.

By early 1918, the "golden halo" of Gustav Klimt's prodigious talent began to darken when on 11 January 1918, Klimt suffered a stroke in his home. Shortly thereafter on 6 February 1918 at age 55 1/2, Gustav Klimt died from pneumonia. The Austrian State honored him with a Hietzing Cemetery burial plot. Newspaper articles and obituaries credited him with reviving Viennese painting and contributing to Austria's International recognition. And, fifteen people claimed to be his natural children (possibly for part of his large estate).

After WWI, the Hapsburg Empire collapsed and Romania and Yugoslavia became independent countries, leaving Austria as a small Republic. With the closing of this glorious Hapsburg legacy, Art of the present day lost its position of stature. To whom did Vienna look back with nostalgic eyes? To the masters of the Empire's golden years of aristocracy, romance and Johanne Strauss waltzes. Austria longed for an era before Klimt and his attempts at modernity and groundbreaking new approaches to art. His works were lost on "Historic" eyes for many decades until modernity became a dominant mode of life. In this new world, Klimt continues to be a significant presence and is Internationally respected as "the major contributor to Austria's Modernism in Art" at the Turn-of-the-20th Century.

We recommend this book for further research: "Gustav Klimt 1862-1918 The World in Female Form" by Gottfried Fliedl, 1998.