Gustav Klimt

[thomasjames]

Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects. Klimt's primary subject was the female body; his works are marked by a frank eroticism.

Gustav Klimt was born in Baumgarten, near Vienna in Austria-Hungary, the second of seven children—three boys and four girls. All three sons displayed artistic talent early on. Klimt's younger brothers were Ernst Klimt and Georg Klimt. His father, Ernst Klimt the Elder, formerly from Bohemia, was a gold engraver. Ernst married Anna Klimt (née Finster), whose unrealized ambition was to be a musical performer.
Klimt lived in poverty while attending the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts (Kunstgewerbeschule), where he studied architectural painting until 1883. He revered the foremost history painter of the time, Hans Makart. Klimt readily accepted the principles of a conservative training; his early work may be classified as academic. In 1877 his brother Ernst, who, like his father, would become an engraver, also enrolled in the school. The two brothers and their friend Franz Matsch began working together; by 1880 they had received numerous commissions as a team they called the "Company of Artists", and helped their teacher in painting murals in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Klimt began his professional career painting interior murals and ceilings in large public buildings on the Ringstraße including a successful series of "Allegories and Emblems".
In 1888, Klimt received the Golden order of Merit from Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria for his contributions to murals painted in the Burgtheater in Vienna. He also became an honorary member of the University of Munich and the University of Vienna. In 1892 both Klimt's father and brother Ernst died, and he had to assume financial responsibility for his father's and brother's families. The tragedies affected his artistic vision as well, and soon he would veer toward a new personal style.
In the early 1890s, Klimt met Emilie Louise Flöge, who, notwithstanding the artist's relationships with other women, was to be his companion until the end of his life. Whether his relationship with Flöge was sexual or not is debated; during that period Klimt fathered at least 14 children.

The Kiss 1907–08

[thomasjames]

Goldfish - 1902

[thomasjames]

The Beethoven Frieze: The Hostile Powers. Far Wall - 1902



The Beethoven Frieze: The Longing for Happiness Finds Repose in Poetry. Right wall - 1902

[thomasjames]

Farmhouse with Birch Trees - 1903



Birch in a Forest - 1903

[galutsky]

Юдифь с головой Олоферна 1900

[thomasjames]

Apple Tree, I - 1912

[Supermancho]

The Tree of Life (1909)

[Menelia]

[NapoleonNapo]

[basek21]

«Портрет Адели Блох-Бауэр I» (1907) — картина Густава Климта. Известна также как «Золотая Адель» или «Австрийская Мона Лиза». Картина считается одним из самых значительных полотен Климта и австрийского Югендстиля в целом.

По сообщениям прессы в 2006 г. картина была приобретена за рекордную для произведения живописи сумму в 135 млн долларов американским предпринимателем Рональдом Лаудером для основанной им Новой галереи в Нью-Йорке.

[jkperez]