Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) was born in Baumgarten, near Vienna, the son of a gold engraver. At fourteen he entered the Vienna Kunstgewerbeschule, studying architectural painting under Ferdinand Laufberger and then Julius Victor Berger, and he began his career painting murals and ceilings for public buildings. His work on the staircases of the Burgtheater earned him the Gold Cross of Merit from Emperor Franz Joseph. In 1897 he was a founding member and president of the Vienna Secession. His paintings for the ceiling of the Great Hall of the University of Vienna were attacked as pornographic, and afterwards he accepted no more public commissions. What followed was his golden phase, with gold leaf and Byzantine imagery most likely inspired by the mosaics of Venice and Ravenna. He is best known for The Kiss and the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, his work helped define Art Nouveau in Europe, and he was an important influence on the younger Egon Schiele. Here: The Kiss, which many scholars read as an image of Klimt and his lifelong companion Emilie Flöge.