Portrait of Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt Painting Reproductions 3 of 7

1862-1918

Austrian Secession Painter

Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 - February 6, 1918) was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Art Nouveau (Vienna Secession) movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches and other art objects, many of which are on display in the Vienna Secession gallery. Klimt's primary subject is the female body, and his works are marked by a frank eroticism. His pencil drawings, which are very numerous, have been regarded by many as his greatest legacy.

Life and art
Gustav Klimt was born in Baumgarten, near Vienna, Austria, the second of seven children. His father (Ernst Klimt) was an engraver and was married to Anna Klimt (nee Finster). He lived in poverty for most of his childhood.

He was educated at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts (Kunstgewerbeschule) in the years 1879-1883, and received training as an architectural decorator. He began his professional career painting interior murals in large public buildings on the Ringstrace. Klimt was also an honorary member of the Universities of Munich and Vienna.

In 1893 Klimt was commissioned to do three paintings to decorate the ceiling of the Great Hall in the University of Vienna. His three paintings, Philosphy, Medicine and Jurisprudence were criticized for their radical themes and 'pornographic' material resulting in their not being displayed on the ceiling of the great Hall. All three paintings were eventually destroyed by retreating SS forces in May 1945. This would also be the last time Klimt accepted any public commissions to do work.

His work is distinguished by the elegant gold or coloured decoration, often phallic in shape that conceals the more erotic positions of the drawings he based many of his paintings on. This can be seen in Judith I (1901), and in The Kiss (1907-1908), and especially in Danae (1907). Art historians note an eclectic range of influences contributing to Klimt's distinct style, including Egyptian, Minoan, Classical Greek, and Byzantine inspirations. Klimt was also inspired by the engravings of Albrecht Durer, late medieval European painting, and Japanese Ukiyo-e. His works are also characterized by a rejection of earlier naturalistic styles, and the use of symbols or symbolic elements to convey psychological ideas and emphasize the "freedom" of art from traditional culture.

Klimt was one of the founding members of the Wiener Sezession (Vienna Secession) and of the periodical Ver Sacrum. He left the movement in 1908.

Klimt took annual summer holidays on the shores of Attersee and painted some of the landscapes he saw there.

He died in Vienna on February 6, 1918 of a stroke and was interred at the Hietzing Cemetery, Vienna. Numerous paintings were left unfinished.

Klimt has the distinction of being the artist with the highest selling price on a painting. Purchased for the Neue Galerie in New York by Ronald Lauder for a reported US $135 million, the 1907 portrait "Adele Bloch-Bauer I" deposed Picasso's 1905 "Boy With a Pipe" (sold May 5, 2004 for $104 million) on or around June 19, 2006.

162 Klimt Paintings

Roses Under the Trees, 1905 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Roses Under the Trees 1905

Oil Painting
$2124
Canvas Print
$75.58
SKU: KLG-2676
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 110 x 110 cm
Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France

Lady with a Fan, c.1917/18 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Lady with a Fan c.1917/18

Oil Painting
$1151
Canvas Print
$75.58
SKU: KLG-5318
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 100 x 100 cm
Private Collection

Pear Tree, 1903 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Pear Tree 1903

Oil Painting
$2073
Canvas Print
$75.58
SKU: KLG-5804
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 101 x 101 cm
Busch-Reisinger Museum, Massachusetts, USA

Expectation (Stoclet Frieze), c.1905/06 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Expectation (Stoclet Frieze) c.1905/06

Oil Painting
$1119
Paper Art Print
$73.83
SKU: KLG-8475
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 193.5 x 115 cm
MAK Museum, Vienna, Austria

Tree of Life - Centre Portion (Stoclet Frieze), c.1905/06 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Tree of Life - Centre Portion (Stoclet Frieze) c.1905/06

Oil Painting
$1007
Paper Art Print
$63.36
SKU: KLG-8476
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 195 x 102 cm
MAK Museum, Vienna, Austria

Fulfilment (Stoclet Frieze), c.1905/06 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Fulfilment (Stoclet Frieze) c.1905/06

Oil Painting
$1194
Paper Art Print
$72.81
SKU: KLG-8477
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 193 x 115 cm
MAK Museum, Vienna, Austria

Field of Flowers (Orchard), c.1905 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Field of Flowers (Orchard) c.1905

Oil Painting
$2213
Canvas Print
$75.58
SKU: KLG-8490
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 99 x 99 cm
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, USA

Fable, 1883 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Fable 1883

Oil Painting
$1202
Canvas Print
$88.35
SKU: KLG-10056
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 84.5 x 117 cm
Wien Museum Karlsplatz, Vienna, Austria

Country House by the Attersee, c.1914 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Country House by the Attersee c.1914

Oil Painting
$2058
Canvas Print
$75.58
SKU: KLG-10057
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 110 x 110 cm
Private Collection

Shrub (Stoclet Frieze), c.1905/06 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Shrub (Stoclet Frieze) c.1905/06

Oil Painting
$1078
Paper Art Print
$73.49
SKU: KLG-10058
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 194 x 118 cm
MAK Museum, Vienna, Austria

Love, 1895 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Love 1895

Oil Painting
$1062
Canvas Print
$56.89
SKU: KLG-10059
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 60 x 44 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

Emilie Floge, 1891 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Emilie Floge 1891

Paper Art Print
$47.49
SKU: KLG-10060
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 67 x 41.5 cm
Private Collection

Study of the Head of a Blind Man, 1896 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Study of the Head of a Blind Man 1896

Oil Painting
$623
Canvas Print
$59.50
SKU: KLG-10061
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 66 x 53.2 cm
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria

Pallas Athena, 1898 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Pallas Athena 1898

Oil Painting
$1026
Canvas Print
$75.58
SKU: KLG-10062
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 75 x 75 cm
Wien Museum Karlsplatz, Vienna, Austria

Orchard with Roses, c.1911/12 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Orchard with Roses c.1911/12

Oil Painting
$2042
Canvas Print
$75.58
SKU: KLG-10063
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 110 x 110 cm
Private Collection

Flower Garden, c.1905/07 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Flower Garden c.1905/07

Oil Painting
$1303
Canvas Print
$75.58
SKU: KLG-10064
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 110 x 110 cm
Private Collection

Tall Poplars II (Approaching Thunderstorm), 1903 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Tall Poplars II (Approaching Thunderstorm) 1903

Oil Painting
$1330
Canvas Print
$75.58
SKU: KLG-10065
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 100.8 x 100.7 cm
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria

Attersee I, 1901 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Attersee I 1901

Oil Painting
$1032
Canvas Print
$75.58
SKU: KLG-10066
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 80.2 x 80.2 cm
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria

Study for the Painting 'Judith II', c.1908 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Study for the Painting 'Judith II' c.1908

Paper Art Print
$47.49
SKU: KLG-10067
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 54.2 x 34.5 cm
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria

Adam and Eve, c.1916/18 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Adam and Eve c.1916/18

Oil Painting
$1441
Canvas Print
$49.87
SKU: KLG-10068
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 173 x 60 cm
Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, Austria

Profile of a Girl, c.1880 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Profile of a Girl c.1880

Oil Painting
$688
Canvas Print
$49.87
SKU: KLG-10069
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 24 x 16.8 cm
Fuji Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

Musik, n.d. by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Musik n.d.

Paper Art Print
$47.49
SKU: KLG-10070
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

The Swamp, 1900 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

The Swamp 1900

Oil Painting
$1194
Canvas Print
$64.98
SKU: KLG-10071
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 80 x 80 cm
Private Collection

Church in Cassone (Landscape with Cypresses), 1913 by Klimt | Painting Reproduction

Church in Cassone (Landscape with Cypresses) 1913

Oil Painting
$2113
Canvas Print
$75.58
SKU: KLG-10072
Gustav Klimt
Original Size: 110 x 110 cm
Private Collection

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