Klimt, Gustav

(1862-1918, Viennese)

Gustav Klimt oil painting reproductions

Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 - February 6, 1918) was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Art Nouveau (Vienna Secession) movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches and other art objects, many of which are on display in the Vienna Secession gallery. Klimt's primary subject is the female body, and his works are marked by a frank eroticism. His pencil drawings, which are very numerous, have been regarded by many as his greatest legacy.

Gustav Klimt was born in Poechlarn, near Vienna, Austria, the second of seven children. His father (Ernst Klimt) was an engraver and was married to Anna Klimt (neé Finster). He lived in poverty for most of his childhood.

He was educated at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts (Kunstgewerbeschule) in the years 1879-1883 and received training as an architectural decorator. He began his professional career painting interior murals in large public buildings on the Ringstraße. Klimt was also an honorary member of the Universities of Munich and Vienna.

In 1893, Klimt was commissioned to do three paintings to decorate the ceiling of the Great Hall in the University of Vienna. His three paintings, Philosophy, Medicine and Jurisprudence were criticized for their radical themes and 'pornographic' material resulting in their not being displayed on the ceiling of the great Hall. All three paintings were eventually destroyed by retreating SS forces in May 1945. This would also be the last time Klimt accepted any public commissions to do work.

His work is distinguished by the elegant gold or colored decoration, often phallic in shape that conceals the more erotic positions of the drawings he based many of his paintings on. This can be seen in Judith I (1901), and in The Kiss (1907-1908), and especially in Danae (1907). Art historians note an eclectic range of influences contributing to Klimt's distinct style,albrecht-durer.html including Egyptian, Minoan, Classical Greek, and Byzantine inspirations. Klimt was also inspired by the engravings of Albrecht Durer, late medieval European painting, and Japanese Ukiyo-e. His works are also characterized by a rejection of earlier naturalistic styles, and the use of symbols or symbolic elements to convey psychological ideas and emphasize the "freedom" of art from traditional culture.

Klimt was one of the founding members of the Wiener Sezession (Vienna Secession) and of the periodical Ver Sacrum. He left the movement in 1908.

Klimt took annual summer holidays on the shores of Attersee and painted some of the landscapes he saw there.

He died in Vienna on February 6, 1918 of a stroke and was interred at the Hietzing Cemetery, Vienna. Numerous paintings were left unfinished.

Purchased for the Neue Galerie in New York by Ronald Lauder for a reported US $135 million, the 1907 "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" deposed Picasso's 1905 "Boy with a Pipe (Garcon a la Pipe)" (sold May 5, 2004 for $104 million) as the world's most expensive painting, on or around June 19, 2006. This is one of the five paintings referred to below in the Legacy section and an NPR report. On August 7, 2006 Christie's auction house announced it was handling the sale of the remaining four of five works by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt that were recovered by the Bloch-Bauer heirs after a long legal battle.

Ref: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gustav Klimt museum quality oil painting reproductions