Gustav Klimt was the preeminent Austrian Symbolist painter of the Vienna Secession, renowned for his lavish use of gold leaf and ornate, sensuous compositions that blend the erotic and the spiritual.
Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was the founding president of the Vienna Secession, the movement that broke away from the conservative Viennese artistic establishment to embrace Art Nouveau and Symbolism. His mature works are among the most opulent and recognizable in Western art.
The Kiss, his most famous painting, exemplifies his 'golden phase' -- a period when he incorporated actual gold and silver leaf into his compositions, creating shimmering, Byzantine-influenced surfaces of extraordinary richness.
Klimt's work caused controversy in his time for its frank eroticism and departures from academic tradition. Today, he is celebrated as one of the masters of decorative art and the bridge between 19th-century Symbolism and the 20th-century avant-garde.
Major Works
- The Kiss
- Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I
- Judith I
- The Tree of Life
- Danae