Gustav Klimt
Austrian symbolist painter and founding member of the Vienna Secession
He is best known for The Kiss and Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I.[1] The Art Nouveau style in Europe was significantly shaped by his output.[2]
Quick Facts
- Born
- 14 July 1862
- Birthplace
- Baumgarten, Austrian Empire
- Died
- 6 February 1918
- Place of death
- Vienna, Austria-Hungary
- Partner
- Emilie Louise Flöge
- Field
- Painter
- Movement
- Symbolism
- Art Nouveau
- Vienna Secession
- Resting place
- Hietzing Cemetery, Vienna
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
Klimt lived in poverty while growing up, as his father often struggled to find work.[3] In 1897, Klimt became a founding member and president of the Vienna Secession.[3] He was the second child in a family of seven, with a father who worked as a gold engraver and came from a peasant background in Bohemia.[2] At fourteen, he gained admission to the Vienna Kunstgewerbeschule, where from 1876 to 1883 his studies focused on architectural painting.[4]
Paintings, murals, sketches, and various objets d'art are among the works for which he is recognized.[2] The female body served as Klimt's main focus, and a frank eroticism characterizes his pieces.[2]
What the cited sources add
The same source notes that from 1900, Klimt became famous above all as a "painter of women".[5] The Gustav Klimt-Datenbank reports that from the summer of 1914, World War I and the devaluation of money reduced Klimt's income significantly.[6] The Guardian article by Jonathan Jones describes how on 7 May 1945, SS officers arrived at Immendorf Castle, where 13 paintings by Klimt were stored.[7] The Die Presse article by Storkovich notes that Klimt specialists write of 13 Klimt paintings from the Lederer collection that were transported to Immendorf in March 1943.[8]
References
- Wikipedia, "Gustav Klimt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sotheby's: Gilded Romance: Gustav Klimt's Ornamental Style and the Influence of Japonisme, 19 June 2019 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Gustav Klimt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fliedl 1994, p. 14; Sabarsky 1983, p. 18 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Gustav Klimt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Whitford 1990, p. 24–25 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Gustav Klimt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Whitford 1990, p. 24–25; Sabarsky 1983, p. 18; Bailey Colins Vergo Braun 2001, p. 55 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "Gustav Klimt: Biografie. Lebenslauf und wichtige Werke des Wiener Jugendstilmalers", artinwords.de, 30 December 2017. facts only, no text reused. artinwords.de
- "The Final Years", Gustav Klimt-Datenbank. facts only, no text reused. klimt-database.com
- Jones, "Jonathan Jones: Klimt's dazzling demons", the Guardian, 7 May 2008. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
- Storkovich, "Verbrannte Klimtbilder: Das Puzzle von Immendorf Storkovich", Die Presse, 18 December 2015. facts only, no text reused. diepresse.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Gustav Klimt (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Notable Figures
Elsewhere in Historical Figures
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced