Looking At The Masters: Gustav Klimt

Internationally known artist Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) grew up in Baumgarten, a town near Vienna. His father was an engraver of gold and silver items, a occupation that made a strong impression on Gustav. Klimt studied at the Vienna College of Applied Arts, where he excelled. He and other students were assigned mural projects in newly built private and public buildings on Vienna’s Ringstrasse. When Klimt was teenager he and fellow artists began painting wall and ceiling murals in the villa built for Empress Elisabeth and in the Art History Museum. He was awarded the Emperor’s Prize for his murals in the auditorium of the Burg Theater in Vienna (1887-88). Klimt’s early paintings were influenced by art of ancient Egypt up to the Renaissance. Many were paintings of young semi-nude females representing allegorical figures. They were considered by some to be too sensual, but Klimt’s reputation grew.

The art of Vienna was moving into a new phase known as the Vienna Secession. The young artists of Vienna, like others in major art academies in Europe, were rejecting the old Academy style and embracing a new and different style. When the Vienna Secession was started in 1897, Klimt was elected its first chairman. “Judith I” (1901) (34”x17”) is an example of his more decorative style, known as his “Golden Style.” The decorative gold frame was designed and made by his brother who was a goldsmith.  The subject is Judith and Holofernes, the Old Testament story of the beautiful Jewish woman who cut off the head of Holofernes, the general who was about to destroy her town. It was a popular subject for artists from the 17th Century onward.

Klimt’s figures are more sensual as a result of the gold leaf used to create the background pattern. Judith wears a diamond choker and diaphanous gown with gold patterns. Judith’s eyes are almost closed, her mouth is open, and she shares an ecstatic moment with the viewer as she presents the head of Holofernes.  

The model for Judith was his life-long lover Emile Floge (1874-1952). She was the sister of Helene Floge, who married Klimt’s brother in 1897. Klimt had many affairs during his life, resulting in six children, none with Emile. They did not live together, but the affair continued until Klimt’s death in1918. Emile modeled for many of his paintings. On her own, Emile was a fashion designer and proprietor of a popular women’s clothing store in Vienna. She provided the Viennese avant-guard with elegant fashions in the new style.  

Klimt visited Ravenna, Italy, in 1903, and he fell in love with the golden Byzantine mosaics in the 6th Century Church of San Vitale. He described the mosaics as being “of unbelievable splendor” and a “revelation.” His golden mosaic frieze decorated a room in the Vienna Secession building for the 14th exhibition. Titled “Beethoven Frieze, the work” was 7 feet tall and 112 feet long. He used gold paint, stucco, mirrors, and mother of pearl. The gold mosaic style also was used in painting the dining room walls of the Vienna Werkstatte (workshop) (1905-09) and three walls of the dining room of the Villa Stoclet in Brussels (1905-11).  

Klimt was incredibly prolific. He managed to paint many individual works despite his heavy schedule of commissions. The subjects of “The Kiss” (1908) (71’’x71’’) are considered by many art historians to be Klimt and Emile, locked in a passionate embrace. His unruly black hair is crowned by green leaves, resembling ivy, and his hands embrace her face. Her hair is decorated with flowers. She turns her face to his, eyes closed, waiting for the kiss. One of her hands circles his neck and the other holds on to his hand. Her face, shoulder, elbow, and feet are painted in flesh tones. Both figures are encased in a gold, patterned robe. His side is decorated with a variety of black rectangles representing maleness. Her side is decorated with circular patterns representing the female. Klimt made her gown partially transparent by creating a different set of circular patterns with bouquets of flowers and using the patterns to elongate and outline her back and buttocks. The couple kneel on a bed of individually painted flowers on bright green grass.

“Adele Bloch-Bauer” (1907) (55.1”x55.1’’) was one of Klimt’s last works in his “Golden style.” The painting was called the Austrian “Mona Lisa.” Klimt was a popular portrait painter among the new Jewish bourgeoise. Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881-1925) was a salon hostess and patron of the arts. 

This portrait is considered a masterpiece of his style. Adele’s large, dark eyes, blushing cheeks, and red lipstick are sensuous. The unusual position of her hands was to hide a broken finger that she found awkward. The stunning diamond choker was a wedding present from her husband. Lavish gold bracelets encircle her arm. Her gown, meant partially to reveal her shape, is designed with patterns of the all-seeing eye and golden triangles. The diaphanous outer gown contains squares with her initials A and B.

When the Nazis stole the painting from the Block-Bauer residence, it was given the name “Woman in Gold” and put on display. Adele’s diamond necklace was taken by Hermann Goering. The 2015 movie “Woman in Gold,” starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds, told the story of Maria Altmann, niece of Adele Block Bauer, who fought to retrieve the painting. “Woman in Gold” was a landmark case of restitution of Nazi plunder. The painting was purchased for $135 million from Maria Altmann in 2006 by the Neue Galerie in New York City. It hangs in the New York gallery at the wish of the Altmann family. 

After his “Golden style” period, Klimt painted several allegorical paintings such as “Death and Life” (1910-1915) (71’’x79’’). They tell provocative stories. When the painting was originally exhibited in 1911 at an International Exhibition in Rome, it was titled “Death” and it won first prize. When the painting was exhibited in 1912 at the International Exhibition in Dresden, it was titled “Death and Life.” Klimt retouched the work in 1915, two years after World War I began, painting large black crosses on Death’s robe. He added more figures and brighter primary colors to the group, and he painted over the gold background with a dark gray-green. In that year his mother, with whom he still lived, died. The 1915 version of the painting is the one shown here.

Death is represented by a dark figure with a grinning skull that stares at Life. His skeletal fingers grip a red club. Life is represented by several figures from all stages of life, infancy to aged. Prominently placed is a newborn male baby surrounded by several young women, the largest female nude, probably representing the mother. The older woman with gray hair wears a blue patterned head scarf. The lovers, one a single adult male with dark hair and tanned skin, the other a nude female with pale skin and red hair, embrace. The cycle of life is represented. The group is surrounded with a pattern of brightly colored flowers and geometric designs. 

With the exception of the female just to the left of the mother figure and whose eyes are open, all appear comfortably asleep, unaware of the presence of Death. Whether or not she is looking at Death is a mystery. The 1915 revisions are often interpreted as Klimt offering hope.

On November 15, 2022, a climate activist group threw an oily black substance on “Death and Life,” on display at the Leopold Museum in Vienna.  One protestor glued himself to the glass that covered the painting. Having tried several different ways, and for several years, to get European governments to stop drilling for oil, and having had no success, the group announced it was disbanding. The group’s message was “New oil and gas drilling is a death sentence to humanity.” Fortunately, the group always chose paintings that were under glass, so no damage was done to the paintings. 

“Bauermgarten” (1907) (43”x43’’) represents another source of Klimt’s inspiration: his love of rustic gardens. Klimt also loved Vienna, and he left it reluctantly for very short periods. Friends who traveled with him observed he was never so happy as when he was coming home. He would sing, “The wind is blowing briskly toward my homeland.” He made several paintings of gardens filled with daisies, poppies, roses, sunflowers, and others, all popular garden flowers, composed in triangular patterns. These paintings also were incredibly popular in his time as well as today. This painting was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in March 2017 for $59.3 million, the highest price ever paid for a Klimt painting at auction.

In addition to painting flower gardens, Klimt painted scenes near his beloved summer home in the village of Unterach, located on the south shore of Lake Attersee. “Avenue in the Park of Schloss Kammer” (1912) (43.3”x43.3”) is one of his many depictions of scenes around the Schloss Kammer castle and the Lake. A cobble stone drive leads to the yellow walls of the castle, but what dominates the painting is the avenue of tall trees along the way. Later in Klimt’s life, he experimented with realism, but he always included his decorative patterns. This scene is a kind of paradise. It is peaceful and inviting. Klimt painted for his own pleasure, but these were among his most popular and purchased paintings.

 

“Art is a line around your thoughts.” (Klimt)