Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt combined painting with gold and ornament – and became the leading figure of Viennese Art Nouveau.
Life
Born near Vienna in 1862, the son of an engraver, he studied at the Vienna School of Applied Arts and, with his brother Ernst and Franz Matsch, decorated ceilings and walls in theatres and museums. In 1897 he co-founded the Vienna Secession and became its first president. His ceiling paintings for the University caused fierce controversy. His “golden phase” produced “The Kiss” and the “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I”. He died in Vienna in 1918.
Style & technique
Klimt combined naturalistically painted faces and hands with flat, ornamental areas of gold, spirals and mosaic patterns – inspired by the Byzantine mosaics of Ravenna. His drawings, by contrast, are delicate and linear. In later years he also painted square landscapes full of flowers and trees.
Look closely
- The contrast: soft skin next to hard, flat patterns.
- The ornaments: circles, spirals, rectangles – each figure has its own pattern.
- The format: many of his landscapes are exactly square.
Timeline
- 1862: Born in Baumgarten near Vienna.
- 1897: Co-founds the Vienna Secession.
- 1903: Journey to Ravenna; the “golden phase” begins.
- 1907–1908: “The Kiss”.
- 1918: Dies in Vienna.