The most important Austrian Jugendstil painter. Together with
brother Ernst he was a pupil of F. Laufberger and J.V. Berger.
With Frank Matsch they founded the Künstler Compagnie that specialised
in decorative paintings (1883-1892). The company made paintings
in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. In 1897 Klimt became
the first president of the Sezession. Unfortunately his ceilings
for the University in Vienna (1900-1903) turned out to be very
unpopular (they were destroyed in 1945).
After a scandal
he retired from public life and busied himself with portraits,
allegorical pieces and landscapes. In 1902 he painted the portrait
of Emily Flöge, who was also his mistress. Alma Mahler declined
to make love in his studio when he was painting her portrait.
Klimt
and his followers left the Sezession in 1905 and Klimt became
president of the new Künstlerbund. He participated in many exhibitions.
His famous Beethoven Fries (1902) is still on view at the building
of the Sezession in Vienna.
Related persons
• was influenced by Alma-Tadema, Laura Theresa
• used as a model Bahr-Mildenburg, Anna von
• painted Bloch-Bauer, Adele
• was influenced by Burne-Jones, Edward Coley
• was a friend of Hoffmann, Josef
• influenced Kokoschka, Oskar
• was a friend of Mahler, Alma
• knew Mérode, Cleo de
• influenced Schiele, Egon
• has a connection with Ucicky, Gustav
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Sources
• Becker, Edwin & Sabine Grabner (eds.), Wenen 1900, Portret en interieur, Van Goghmuseum, Amsterdam, 1997
• Murray, Peter & Linda Murray, The Penguin Dictionary of Arts & Artists, Fourth Edition, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1981
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