In 1862, Gustav Klimt, an Austrian symbolist painter, was born. Gustav Klimt is best known for his paintings and murals, including The Kiss, Adele Block-Bauer I, and Beethoven Frieze. His subjects were mostly women, and his work was considered elegant, albeit sensual or erotic at times.
At the age of 14, Gustav Klimt enrolled at the Vienna School of Art. Gustav Klimt’s brother, Ernst Klimt, enrolled the following year. They collaborated frequently early in Klimt’s career, and together with friend Franz Marsch, they formed an artistic group known as The Company of Artists. Klimt’s professional career began as a muralist for large public buildings, painting wall and ceiling murals.
Gustav Klimt was a founding member and the first president of the Vienna Secession, which launched the Secession movement that would later be known as Art Nouveau, in 1897. Many of Klimt’s works are now on display at the Secession gallery. Despite being commissioned for a number of projects, including three paintings for the University of Vienna’s Great Hall, Gustav Klimt’s work was frequently deemed “pornographic” and publicly criticized.
Gustav Klimt experimented with gold leaf techniques and mosaic inspiration later in his career. The Kiss and Adele Block-Bauer I, both painted in the early 1900s, use similar techniques, which can be distinguished by the use of gold tones. Gustav Klimt, like many other artists, achieved his greatest fame after his death.
Gustav Klimt’s work was on display at the Berlin World’s Fair in 1916. Gustav Klimt died of pneumonia complications two years later, on February 16, 1918. Many of his works were left unfinished, and some had darker palettes than usual, indicating that he was still grieving over the loss of his mother in 1915. Many of his works have resurfaced in recent years, fetching some of the highest prices ever paid for original works of art. Adele Block-Bauer I was auctioned for a world record-breaking $135 million dollars in 2006.