Born in Vienna in 1862, Gustav Klimt was the son of an engraver who strove to give him an artistic education. After studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, he opened with his brother Ernst a studio specialising in the production of theatre decorations and murals. They worked together for the Karlsbad and Vienna theatres but Ernst died in 1892.
Gustav Klimt, much affected by the death of his brother, did not work during three years until he produced paintings under the influence of Impressionist artists. He then took part in the founding in 1897 of the «Secession group» which had much impact on many designers of what was to be called the «Art Nouveau» movement.
Klimt headed the group until 1903 and produced monumental paintings such as «Philosophy», «Medicine» and «Jurisprudence» for the ceilings of the Vienna University but these works were much criticised by the public and the Austrian Administration.
However his presentation of decorative panels to pay tribute to Max Klinger's «Beethoven» won him much acclaim from young artists who contributed to establish his celebrity.
Klimt was awarded a major prize at the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris but he soon gave up producing monumental pieces and concentrated on decorative painting instead though he firmly made no distinction between these two genres. Juggling with arabesques, volumes and mosaics of colours, applying gold and silver leaves on his works, Klimt had a special cult for women whom he idealised within a deep decorative flora such as in the «Kiss» of 1902 or «Judith II-Salome» of 1903 and «Danae» between 1905 and 1908.
In all his works one can sense that like painters of the Nabi movement and Gauguin tried to do he gave up the third dimension in an effort to stick to reality.
Klimt was more interested in collaborating with designers specialised in applied arts such as those of the «Wiener Werkstätte» founded in Vienna by Joseph Hoffmann. He notably produced the ceramic decorations of the Stoclet Hotel in Brussels around 1909 but it was in his concept of the «flower-woman» shown with a mosaic and floral background that he excelled the most.
Klimt impressed many artists such as Schiele and Kokoschka who were his followers as well as Wassili Kandinsky and painters of the «Blaue Reiter» who much admired his inventiveness.
Kurt Schwitters regarded Klimt as the inventor of the collage process and when he created his «Merzbau» he felt he was prolonging the environmental style of the 1900 designers though he was much less exuberant in his production.
The Jugenstil and most artists attached to this movement faded away after World War One and was held in contempt during many years. It was only after 1950 that art critics discovered that it had been part of a general movement at the turn of the century and that it had much originality notwithstanding its deep influence on many great artists.
The main problem was that nobody had felt necessary to differentiate decorative works from true paintings because designers and artists had worked closely together during a period of twenty years.
In many people's eyes there had been one single style for paintings, furniture, objects and even houses (The house of the artist Franz Stuck or the Casa Mila by Gaudi in Barcelona).
Klimt, who died in 1918, Edvard Munch or Ferdinand Hodler had different concerns but all had rebelled against established institutions. Josef Urban once wrote that Klimt represented a bridge between Impressionism and Expressionism and combined both. In fact he was rather more inclined to be a symbolist artist inspired by Byzantine art and was also surely a pioneer in psychedelic painting as experienced by the «Pop Art» movement in the 1960's.
It is true that his works, which tally so stunningly with perfection, seem more in tune with decorative arts than with true painting. Still, Klimt left a deep mark on painting and is regarded as a genius nowadays.
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