Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt, (1862-1918) was a Viennese painter and founder of the school of painting known as the Vienna Sezession. After studying at the Vienna School of Decorative Arts, Klimt in 1883 set up an independent studio specializing in the execution of mural paintings. His early work was typical of late 19th-century academic painting, as is demonstrated in his murals for the Vienna Burgtheater (1888) and on the staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. In 1897 Klimt’s mature style emerged, and he established the Vienna Sezession, a group of painters who revolted against academic art in favor of a decorative style similar to Art Nouveau. Soon afterwards he painted three allegorical murals for the University of Vienna auditorium that created an scandal due to the erotic symbolism and pessimism of these works. His later murals, the Beethoven Frieze (1902) and the murals (1909–11) in the dining room of the Stoclet House in Brussels, are characterized by precisely linear drawing and the bold use of decorative patterns of colour and gold leaf. Klimt’s most successful works include The Kiss (1907–08) and a series of portraits of fashionable Viennese matrons, such as Frau Fritza Riedler (1906) and Frau Adele Bloch-Bauer (1907). Klimt died in Vienna in 1918 due to the worldwide influenza epidemic of that year.