Klimt, Gustav

PAINTER (AUSTRIA)
BORN 14 Jul 1862, Wien: Baumgarten - DIED 6 Feb 1918, Wien
CAUSE OF DEATH stroke
GRAVE LOCATION Wien: Hietzinger Friedhof, Maxingstraße 15, Hietzing (Gruppe 05, Nummer 194/195)

The most important Austrian Jugendstil painter. Together with brother Ernst he was a pupil of Ferdinand Laufberger and Julius Victor 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 paintings for the ceilings for the University in Vienna (1900-1903) were 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
• was supported by Bahr, Hermann
• had work owned by Bahr, Hermann
• used as a model Bahr-Mildenburg, Anna von
• painted Bloch-Bauer, Adele
• was influenced by Burne-Jones, Edward
• painted Flöge, Emily
• was a friend of Flöge, Emily
• was a friend of Hoffmann, Josef
• is brother/sister of Klimt, Ernst
• cooperated with Klimt, Ernst
• influenced Kokoschka, Oskar
• was a friend of Mahler, Alma
• was influenced by Makart, Hans
• cooperated with Moll, Carl
• painted Primavesi, Mäda
• influenced Schiele, Egon
• has a connection with Ucicky, Gustav
• was visited by Vollmoeller, Karl

Events
8/5/1945German soldiers set Schloss Immendorf on fire and many works of art burn in the flames. The paintings "Medizin", "Jurisprudenz", "Musik II", "Die Freundinnen", "Schubert am Klavier", "Der Zug der Toten" and "Gartenweg mit Hühnern", all by Gustav Klimt, were lost. 

Images

The Sezession building in Vienna.
Picture by Androom (25 Jan 1999)
 
Gustav Klimt's grave at the Hietzing cemetery, Vienna.
Picture by Androom (25 Jan 1999)
 
The Klimt villa in Hietzing, Vienna.
Picture by Androom (25 Aug 2002)
 

The grave of Gustav Klimt at the Hietzing Cemetery in Vienna.
Picture by androom (15 Aug 2006)
 
"Ritratto di Signora".
(Linz: Neue Galerie)
 
'Sonja Knips'.
   (1893, Wien: Österreichische Galerie Belvedere)
 

'Love'.
   (1895, Wien: Wien Museum)
 
"Nude Veritas".
   (1899, Wien: Österreichisches Theatermuseum)
 
'Bildnis Fritza Reidler'.
   (1906, Wien: Österreichische Galerie Belvedere)
 

"Adele Bloch-Bauer I".
   (1907, New York: Neue Galerie)
 
'Der Violette Hut' (detail).
   (1909, Wien: Österreichische Galerie Belvedere)
 
"The Black Feather Hat".
   (1910, Graz [private collection])
 

Sources
 • Murray, Peter & Linda Murray, The Penguin Dictionary of Arts & Artists, Fourth Edition, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1981
• Becker, Edwin & Sabine Grabner (eds.), Wenen 1900, Portret en interieur, Van Goghmuseum, Amsterdam, 1997


Klindworth, Karl

Published: 01 Jan 2006
Last update: 26 Sep 2023