Name Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) associate with “The Kiss”, “Golden Adele” and other films of the “Golden period”, rarely remembering the graphics. This is understandable. In the dazzling luxury of simple paintings graphite pencil on wrapping paper loses significance.
But Gustav Klimt is a brilliant graphic artist, even though his drawings have a piquant detail that frightens ordinary people. They consist of ninety percent pornography, and the artist himself is called a voyeur and ascribed to him sexual disorders. Actual topic modernity, isn't it?
The reason for the article was the ongoing exhibition of graphics by the artist and his follower Egon Schiele. In Klimt's late work, an unprepared viewer will see only a woman who gets an orgasm, masturbates, shows her genitals, has sex and sleeps blissfully after achieving orgasm. Erotica and pornography have hidden meaning, which can only be understood by learning more deeply about the artist’s personality. Although he himself called for attention to his works for this, there are still points that need clarification.
Gustav Klimt intended to become an art teacher, but became a world-class artist. Due to the conservative sentiments of Viennese society, it took a long time before he was able to come to his own style and create independently of the Viennese House of Artists. Oddly enough, another government order and a rebellious spirit helped him in his final development. The famous trio of faculty paintings, like Klimt himself, were subject to harsh criticism from the professors and society as a whole. New honest interpretations of the classical allegories of science hit hard on the morality of a society stuck in the idealistic foundations.
“Philosophy”, “Medicine” and “Jurisprudence” became the first canvases in which individual style Klimt. It was this event that served as the development of Art Nouveau in Vienna. When the conflict of interests reached its limit, the artist decided from now on never to take government orders that severely limited creativity. He also bought the paintings from the state. The Vienna Secession appeared as a counterweight to the House of Artists, and the idea of freedom eventually became the main motive of everything creative path Klimt. Even in clothes, he demonstrated his attitude towards outdated principles, wearing a loose, floor-length blouse over his naked body. By the way, the artist also turned out to be a talented fashion designer and helped Emilia Flege develop patterns for dresses.
With the refusal of government orders, the artist was not left without a livelihood. Influential people in Vienna, mostly Jews, strongly supported Klimt and ordered him portraits of their wives and daughters, admiring the artist’s approach to art. These portraits are devoid of open eroticism, but the look of women on them means a hundred times more than the naked body. He is languid, powerful and attractive. The artist well understood the nature of female sexuality and maternal instincts. From here came multiple images of a pregnant woman, her three ages and sex scenes.
There were always models in the artist’s studio. Many of them were prostitutes, which explains the looseness and posing in the sketches of sexual acts. The models chatted and relaxed, ready to respond to the artist's gesture and immediately begin posing. Klimt recorded subtle gestures, body parts, and poses in notebooks and on separate sheets of paper. Under his pencil, smooth lines formed life, formed into a single composition, worthy of independence from the general plan of the picture. In the search for the ideal, up to a hundred sketches appeared for just one fragment. The artist worked out the details down to the smallest detail, masterfully rotating the subject of the sketch in the three-dimensional space of the sheet. Klimt did not consider his drawings to be independent works, since for him they were only a means to an end. In tens of thousands graphic drawings he masterfully recorded moments in the lives of his countless models. Of this many, only a little more than four thousand sketches have survived. Some of them are in galleries around the world, others are in private collections.
The Austrian's work is characterized by allegories and symbolism. Using the example of “Danae,” one can best understand the author’s intention, at the same time noting how the original sketch has undergone changes. The preparatory sketch is much more revealing than the canvas itself. The relaxed pose of the Greek woman is eventually replaced by a modest one.
And yet, the plot remains, only the form has changed: Zeus, with a golden shower, penetrates the womb of Danae, conceiving Perseus. Obviously, the golden shower is the seed of Zeus, the black rectangle is a symbol of masculinity, and the circles on the fabric are nothing more than the initial shape of the embryo. In the future, these symbols will appear more than once in paintings, hinting at biological processes. On the clothes of the lovers of “The Kiss”, around the golden Adele, on the dress of “Hope II” and in many other works of the artist.
In sketches different years The changes in style are clearly visible. With the departure from academicism, the sketch acquired a different character. From now on, attention is focused on conveying the position of the figure on the canvas, its gestures and behavior. Over time, the artist abandoned the broken lines that he preferred before 1900. Simplicity appeared in his sketches, without detracting from the accuracy of the message. The method of depiction became the outline, and the subject of artistic passion was the human body. At the same time, around 1904, Klimt replaced the usual duo of wrapping paper and black crayon with softer Japanese paper and graphite pencil, sometimes resorting to blue and red.
For example, the drawing “Reclining Nude” (1913) is completely done in red, in the sketch for “Judith II” (1908) there is blue, in the sketch for the portrait of Friederike Maria Beer (1915-1916) the lips are slightly painted scarlet. Otherwise, Klimt rarely betrayed classical graphite. But behind all the technical aspects there is a main change - the focus finally shifts to the woman and the life emerging in her.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the development of medical and biological sciences in Vienna gained momentum. Studies of the human brain have led to a number of discoveries, including the primitive instincts inherent in it. Klimt became interested in the human body after becoming acquainted with the works of Darwin, and he came to the unconscious from Rokitansky, Meynert and Freud. Patron of arts and admirer of Klimt's work, Emil Zuckerkandl, informally taught the artist biology, introduced him to embryology, and even invited him to autopsies. Social gatherings in the salon of his wife, Bertha Zuckerkandl, encouraged dialogue between scientists and artists. Modernists quickly realized the important role of the unconscious in human behavior. In particular, dialogue with science influenced Klimt's work. Taking a closer look, you can find a resemblance to cells in the color patterns on the canvases and ornaments, and in the graphics since 1904 there has been more and more sexual context. Through the image of a mother and child, the themes of death, conception and the three ages of a woman, the artist called on society to think about the mysteries of nature, but among his contemporaries he earned only misunderstanding and condemnation.
To summarize, I will still say a few words about the exhibition itself. The collection of drawings in Pushkinsky is modest not only in the number of exhibits, but also in their content. Even primarily in terms of content. Obviously, society in our country is still not ready to reconsider Klimt’s work and elevate it to the rank of art and not pornography. There is an assumption that in our lifetime the most interesting drawings to study will continue to travel around the world, bypassing our country. Of course, all the works are worthy of attention, but, in my opinion, the topic discussed in the article is more interesting to many fans of the work of the Austrian artist.
Gustav Klimt is an Austrian painter, recognized throughout the world as a master of depicting the female body. At one time, the artist gained scandalous fame for his works “imbued” with undisguised eroticism.
For the late 18th and early 19th centuries, paintings of such explicit content seemed too bold and shocked art connoisseurs accustomed to the works of masters classical school. But shockingness did not become an obstacle to the fame that Klimt was treated to in abundance during his lifetime. Representatives of European Art Nouveau consider Klimt the founder of the movement. Today, the master’s paintings are sold for incredible amounts of money.
Childhood and youth
Gustav Klimt is an Austrian by nationality, but Czech blood also flowed in his veins from his father, a jeweler, whose childhood and youth were spent in Bohemia. In her youth, the mother of the future painter also lived by art - she dreamed of becoming a musician. The plans were thwarted by a large family: Gustav is the second oldest of the seven Klimt offspring, 3 sons and 4 daughters.
The brightest representative of Art Nouveau was born in the summer of 1862 in Penzing, one of the 23 districts of Vienna. Grew up in Baumgarten County. Penzing is famous for its picturesque nature, because it is located on the spur of the Eastern Alps, and one third of the area is covered by the Vienna Woods.
His father's work, a gold engraver, did not bring in income that would allow the family to live in abundance. But all the children of Ernest and Anna Klimt, when they grew up, chose art. Sons became artists, daughters made careers in the fashion industry.
First steps creative biography little Gustav were made under the supervision of his father, who taught his son to mix paints and apply strokes to the canvas. At the age of 14, the young artist became a student at an art and craft school in Vienna. A year later in educational institution, operating at the Austrian Museum, Gustav’s brother, Ernst, also entered.
Klimt chose architectural painting as a specialization. The young man’s idol during his studies was Hans Makart, who worked in historical genre. Surprisingly, during my student years future star The modernist differed from his progressive comrades in that he respected the conservative ambushes of academic education.
Painting
In the early 1880s, brothers Gustav and Ernst, together with their friend Franz Macham, painted theaters in the Austro-Hungarian province with frescoes. In the mid-1880s, young artists decorated the court theater and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, for which Franz Joseph awarded the most talented of the trio, Gustav Klimt, the Golden Cross. The imperial award, received at the age of 26, opened the path to glory for him. The painter became an honorary member of the universities of Vienna and Munich.
In the early 1890s, Gustav Klimt's father and brother died one after another. The grief from the loss of loved ones left an imprint on the master’s work - he soon developed an individual style that made the paintings recognizable. At this tragic time, Klimt met his muse Emilia Flöge, with whom he did not part until the end of his life.
In the second half of the 1890s, the future founder of Art Nouveau led a group of artists called the Vienna Secession. Young Austrian rebels rejected boundaries academic painting, surprising and shocking society with too bold works.
Klimt's first works, which brought him scandalous fame, were design works. In 1894, he received an order for 3 paintings for the ceiling of the assembly hall of the University of Vienna, which he completed 6 years later. The presentation of the paintings “Philosophy”, “Medicine” and “Jurisprudence” to the public turned into a scandal.
Outraged conservative citizens called the work pornography and called for the painter to be imprisoned. Gustav Klimt no longer took government orders, but he did not give up painting nude women. At the same time, the eroticism and sensuality in his canvases did not cross the fine line, beyond which they would turn into vulgarity and vulgarity.
The final 1890s are called the “golden period” in the work of the Art Nouveau master. For works of this time, Klimt used gold leaf, the most expensive and famous canvases of the late 1890s. The famous “Kiss” is a striking example of Art Nouveau, reminiscent of the beauty of Venetian mosaics. The image of a painting is often used to decorate champagne glasses.
In 1899, Gustav Klimt again caused shock by presenting the public with a painting called “The Naked Truth.” The symbolic naked red-haired girl with a mirror in her hand personified this very “naked truth.” The painter responded to the barrage of criticism, as expected from a brilliant brawler, new picture with the same shocking “character”. Called “Goldfish”, it showed the public the “fifth point” of that same beauty with fiery hair and curvaceous.
Gustav Klimt was the darling of fortune. He was extolled during his lifetime. The fashion master was bombarded with orders, which were generously paid for. He could choose topics and subjects that seemed interesting. But everywhere a mandatory element was women's bodies and overt eroticism.
The most famous paintings of the “golden period” of the Austrian Art Nouveau guru are, in addition to “The Kiss” and “The Naked Truth”, “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer”, “Water Snakes”, “Hope”, “The Three Ages of a Woman” and “Tree” love." Last job– a fresco painted in 1905-1909 can be seen in the Stoclet Palace in Brussels. The fresco has other names - “Tree of Knowledge” and “Tree of Life”.
Gustav Klimt's legacy also includes landscapes painted in his signature style of painting. For them, the master took square canvases, believing that this form “expands” the space. In the last five years of his life, Klimt painted only landscapes. The most famous are “Apple Tree” and “Birch Grove”.
Personal life
Legends were made about the modernist's temperament. Klimt's contemporaries whispered that Gustav had affairs with almost every model. The master is credited with fathering from 14 to 40 children born to ladies who commissioned portraits, models and simply “priestesses of love” to whom he paid money. Rumor has it that young ladies of noble families lined up and were ready to do anything just to get their hands on a precious portrait by Gustav Klimt himself.
To be fair, it must be said that there was another opinion: the artist was not interested in carnal intimacy, he was a supporter of platonic relationships. But this version seems doubtful when Klimt’s biographers talk about a shameful, but very common illness suffered by the artist at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Gustav was given syphilis by a girl of easy virtue. The fact was played out in the feature film “Klimt”, which premiered in 2006.
No matter how many women were in Gustav’s bed, the main muse, who remained in the status of a bride, turned out to be Emilia Flöge, a talented fashion designer and owner of a fashion house. He asked to call her when he was dying. Their relationship lasted 27 years, but was never crowned with marriage and offspring.
Connoisseurs of Klimt's work noticed that the master liked two types of women, whom he painted all his life. These are curvaceous red-haired beauties (such as “Danae”) and brunettes with delicate features and boyish figures (“Adele Bloch-Bauer”).
Death
The famous Austrian painter passed away in February 1918. The cause of death of 55-year-old Klimt was pneumonia, which turned out to be fatal after suffering a stroke.
The artist's resting place was the Vienna Hietzing Cemetery. Gustav Klimt left dozens of paintings he started unfinished.
In October 2017, Russian connoisseurs of Art Nouveau painting had a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the work of Gustav Klimt. Exhibition of graphic works by two famous representatives Art Nouveau - Gustav Klimt and - took place at the Pushkin Museum. .
Works
- 1899-1907 – “Philosophy”
- 1899-1907 – “Medicine”
- 1899-1907 – “Jurisprudence”
- 1901-1902 – “Goldfish”
- 1903 – “Birch Grove”
- 1903 – “Hope”
- 1904-1907 – “Water Snakes”
- 1905 – “The Three Ages of Woman”
- 1905-1909 – “Tree of Love”
- 1906 – “Adele Bloch-Bauer”
- 1907–08 – “The Kiss”
- 1907-1908 – “Danae”
- 1912 – “Apple Tree I”
- 1913 – “Innocence”
- 1917 – “Adam and Eve”
This article is dedicated to today's event. On July 14, 2012, Gustav Klimt would have turned 150 years old.. Gustav Klimt Austrian artist, born July 14, 1862. Many call him the founder of Austrian modernism. The artist painted mainly women, naked women. His paintings often contained overt eroticism.
Klimt's father was also an artist and a gold engraver. My mother dreamed of becoming a musician all her life, but it never worked out for her. There were 8 children in the Klimt family, Gustav was born second.
The child spent his childhood in poverty, despite good profession father. There was no permanent job, so I had to go through financial difficulties. Gustav learned to draw from his father, but already in 1876 he entered the art and craft school, where his brother also entered in 1877. All three sons of Ernest Klimt became artists in the future.
The brothers worked together for a long time, decorating theaters, various buildings, and museums with frescoes. In 1888, Gustav received a well-deserved award - “ Golden cross"from Emperor Franz Joseph himself. Everything was going well, and things were looking up, but in 1892, Gustav Klimt’s father and brother died, and therefore the entire responsibility for providing for the family fell on the artist’s shoulders.
Gustav Klimt I wrote a lot, especially when he and his family went to Lake Attersee, and this was quite often. It was here that he fulfilled his beautiful scenery. This is the only genre that interested the artist, where people did not appear. But despite this, many scientists find human figures in Klimt’s landscapes, and there is some truth in this.
In 1894, Klimt received one of the large orders. It was necessary to paint 3 paintings that would decorate the ceiling of the University of Vienna. Thus, in 1900, “Philosophy”, “Medicine” and “Jurisprudence” were born. But society did not accept these paintings, considering them too explicit, and therefore they were not exhibited at the university. This was Klimt's last public commission.
Since the beginning of the 1900s, the so-called “ Golden period"artist's creativity. It was during this time that such paintings as “The Palace of Athena”, “Judith” and others were created. At this time, society adequately perceived Klimt’s works, but this is not the only reason why this period was called golden. The color of gold and gilding very often prevailed in the artist’s paintings, which fans of his work really liked.
Gustav Klimt led a normal life, worked a lot, and at home. He was famous artist, so orders came to him regularly, and he only took on interesting ones. Women posed for him with great pleasure, some of them were prostitutes. Klimt said that he was not interested in painting self-portraits; it was much more exciting to paint other personalities, and especially women. Gustav claimed that his paintings could say a lot about him, just by looking at them carefully.
February 6, 1918 biography of Gustav Klimt ends. He died of pneumonia, having previously suffered a stroke. He was buried in Vienna. Today is the 150th anniversary of the birth of this wonderful artist and this date should not go unnoticed. Well, as we promised, at the end of this article you can watch a video dedicated to the paintings of Gustav Klimt.
Gustav Klimt - one of Austria's most original artists late XIX- beginning of the 20th century. The main characters of his paintings are mainly women, and the works themselves touch on such universal themes as death, old age and love, conveyed in bright colors and shades of gold with smooth transitions, which gives individuality to his work.
EARLY YEARS.
Gustav Klimt was born on July 14, 1862 in the Vienna suburb of Baumgarten. Gustav's father, Ernst Klimt, was an engraver and jeweler. The Klimt family had seven children - three boys and four girls. His father began teaching Gustav the art of painting, and in 1876, having passed the entrance exams brilliantly, Gustav entered the Vienna Art and Crafts School at the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry, where he studied until 1883, specializing in architectural painting. The rest of Gustav's brothers also studied at the same school.
Portrait of Clara Klimt, 1883
Portrait of Helene Klimt, 1898
Portrait of Emilie Floge at the age of 17, 1891
Portrait of a Girl (1894) (14 x 9.6)
Vienna, Leopold Museum
Two Girls with Oleanders (1890-1892)_Wadsworth_Athenaeum_source_Sandstead_
Portrait of Emilia Flöge (c.1892) (private collection)
SECESSION.
“We want to declare war on sterile routine, immobile Byzantinism, all types of bad taste... Our “Secession” is not a struggle contemporary artists with the old masters, it is a struggle for the success of artists, not shopkeepers who call themselves artists, but at the same time their commercial interests interfere with the flourishing of art.”
This declaration by Hermann Bahr, playwright and theater critic, the spiritual father of the Secessionists, can serve as the motto for the founding of the Vienna Secession in 1897, of which Klimt was one of the founders, president (until 1905) and spiritual leader.
The artists of the younger generation no longer wanted to accept the tutelage that academicism imposed on them; they demanded that their work be exhibited in a place free from “market forces.” They wanted to end Vienna's cultural isolation, invite artists from abroad to the city, and make the works of Secession members known in other countries. The secessionist program was significant not only in an “aesthetic” context, but also as a battle for the “right to creativity,” for art as such; it was the basis for the battle between "great art" and "minor genres", between "art for the rich" and "art for the poor" - in short, between "Venus" and "Nini".
The “Viennese Secession” played an important role in the development and spread of the Art Nouveau style as a force counteracting official academicism and bourgeois conservatism. This revolt of youth in search of liberation from the restrictions imposed on art by social, political and aesthetic conservatism could develop through unprecedented success and culminate in a utopian project: the idea of transforming society through art.
Opening in March 1898 exhibition building The “Vienna Secession” was eagerly awaited. Here Klimt presented the composition “Theseus and the Minotaur”, filled with rich symbolic meaning. The fig leaf was deliberately absent, and the artist was forced to appease the modesty of the censors by depicting a tree. The almost completely naked Theseus symbolized the struggle for something new in art; he is on the illuminated side, while the Minotaur, pierced by the sword of Theseus and timidly retreating into the shadows, represents broken power. Athena, emerging from the head of Zeus, watches over the scene as the embodiment of the spirit born of the mind, symbolizing divine wisdom.
Poster for the first exhibiton of the Secession in Austria (Theseus and Minotaur), 1898
There is no art without patronage, and patrons for the Secession were found primarily among the Jewish families of the Viennese bourgeoisie: Karl Wittgenstein, the steel magnate, Fritz Werndorfer, the textile magnate, as well as the Knieps and Lederer families, who supported specifically Modern art. All of them were among those who commissioned paintings from Klimt, and he specialized in portraits of their wives.
Portrait of Sonya Knieps (1898) (141 x 141) (Vienna, Belvedere Gallery)
The portrait of Sonya Knips was the first in this “gallery of wives.” The Knieps family was involved in the metallurgical industry and banking. Josef Hofmann designed their house, and Klimt painted a number of paintings, including, in 1898, a portrait of Sonja in the center of the living room. The portrait combines several styles. It is well known that Klimt admired Makart's hyperbole, and the pose of Sonia Knieps indicates the influence of the creator of the portrait famous actress Burgtheater Charlotte Voltaire in the image of Messalina, which is manifested, for example, in the asymmetrical position of the figure and in the accentuation of the silhouette. On the other hand, the interpretation of the dress, which is completely uncharacteristic of Klimt, is reminiscent of Whistler’s light cage. The proud, reserved expression that Klimt gave to this society lady is typical of the artist; from then on, it appears again and again in his femme fatales.
Portrait of Serena Lederer, 1899
Portrait of Rose von Rosthorn-Friedmann, 1900-01
Portrait of Marie Henneberg, 1901-02
Portrait of Hermine Gallia, 1904
Portrait of Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein, 1905
Portrait of Fritza Riedler,1906
Portraits of society ladies gave Klimt financial independence. Thus, he was not obliged to cater to public tastes or to see his carefully thought out and brilliantly executed works trampled into the dirt. He believed that his paintings could be bought back for the same amount for which they were purchased.
The first features of his unique style appeared for the first time in the paintings of the grand staircase Vienna Museum history of art created in 1890-1891.
Ancient Greece (The Girl from Tanagra) - Mural painting in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 1890
Mural painting in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna - Ancient Greece, 1890
Mural painting in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna - Egyptian Art, 1890
Mural painting in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna - Florentinian Renaissance, 1890
Mural painting in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna - Old Italian Art, 1890
In 1897, Klimt headed the Secession, an association of artists created in opposition to official art.
In 1900, he began work offered by the University of Vienna, and presented the painting of one of the lampshades - “Philosophy”. It was then that a scandal broke out. On this lampshade, and then on the next ones - “Medicine” and “Jurisprudence” - the artist violated all the laws of color and composition, combining the incongruous. In his panels, man appears as a slave to his nature, obsessed with pain, sex and death. This Klimt both shocked and fascinated.
He perceived Philosophy as a synthesis of his ideas about the world, and at the same time as a search for his own style. In the catalogue, he explained: “On the left is a group of figures: Beginning of Life, Maturity and Decay. On the right is a ball representing mystery. An illuminated figure appears below: Knowledge.”
Philosophy, 1899-1907. Destroyed in 1945
Men and women swim as if in a trance, without controlling the chosen direction. This was contrary to the ideas about science and knowledge that prevailed among scientists of the time, who felt mortally insulted. The work was commissioned by the University of Vienna.
However, the venerable Viennese professors rebelled against what they saw as an attack on tradition. They suggested that the artist paint a picture that could express the triumph of light over darkness. Instead, Klimt presented them with an image of “the victory of darkness over everything.”
Inspired by the works of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche and trying to find his own way to solve the metaphysical riddle human existence, the artist turned their idea around to express confusion modern man. He did not hesitate to break taboos on such topics as illness, physical decline, poverty - in all their ugliness; Before this, reality was usually sublimated by presenting its most advantageous aspects.
Medicine (color copy of the Goddess Hygieia, the central figure of Medicine)
1900-07. 430x300
University of Vienna, fresco (destroyed)
The Allegory of Medicine, the second in a series of compositions for the University, again caused a scandal.
Klimt was condemned for depicting the helplessness of medicine and the power of disease. 
The bodies, torn out by fate, are carried forward by the stream of life, in which, reconciled, all its stages, from birth to death, experience delight or pain. Such a vision borders on belittling the role of medicine; it emphasizes her powerlessness in comparison with irresistible forces Rock.
Gustav Klimt: 00644
Medicine, 1900-1907 Destroyed in 1945
The third work for the University, Jurisprudence, was met with similar hostility; spectators were shocked by the ugliness and nudity they believed they were seeing. Only Franz von Wyckhoff, professor of art history at the University of Vienna, defended Klimt in a legendary lecture entitled “What is Ugly?” However, the scandal provoked by Klimt was discussed even in Parliament. The artist was accused of “pornography” and “excessive perversity.”
Jurisprudence, 1903-1907 Destroyed in 1945
Instead of, as expected, depicting the victory of light over darkness, Klimt reflected the human feeling of uncertainty in the world around us.
But the scandal ended with the artist, having borrowed money, returning the advance to the university and keeping the works for himself. There were so many orders that this allowed him to quickly repay the debt and not think about money at all in the future.
He explained to the Viennese journalist Bertha Zuckerkandl: “The main reasons why I decided to ask for the paintings to be returned to me were not caused by irritation at various attacks ... they could arise in myself. All the attacks from criticism hardly touched me at that time, and besides, it was impossible to take away the happiness that I experienced while working on these works. In general, I am very insensitive to attacks. But I become much more sensitive if I understand that someone who commissioned my work is dissatisfied with it. Just like when paintings are covered over.”
Eventually, the government agreed to have industrialist August Lederer buy Philosophy for a fraction of the original price. In 1907, Koloman Moser acquired Medicine and Law. In an attempt to save the paintings during World War II, they were moved to Immendorf Castle in southern Austria; On May 5, 1945, the castle and everything that was stored in it were destroyed in fire during the retreat of the SS troops.
Today, some idea of the works that once caused such public outrage can be obtained from black and white photographs and a good color copy of the Goddess Hygieia, the central figure of Medicine. There is also a “colorful” comment by Ludwig Hevesy: “Let the eye turn to the two side paintings, Philosophy and Medicine: a magical symphony in green, an inspiring overture in red, a purely decorative play of colors on both. In Jurisprudence, black and gold, unreal colors, dominate; and at the same time the line acquires significance, and the form becomes monumental.”
Klimt's work arose in the struggle between Eros and Thanatos, denying the basic laws of bourgeois society. In Philosophy, he depicted the triumph of darkness over light, contrary to generally accepted ideas. In Medicine exposed her inability to cure the disease. Finally, in Jurisprudence he wrote of a condemned man at the mercy of the three Furies: Truth, Justice and Law. They appear as Erinyes, surrounded by snakes; As punishment, the octopus squeezes the condemned man in its deadly embrace. With his images of sexual archetypes, Klimt wanted to shock a prim society and “bring down the pillars” of morality.
Nothing has survived from this specially conceived group, except for some material evidence: photographs and copies of fragments of disappeared masterpieces. And also a bitter awareness of the powerlessness of an artist ridiculed by censorship. Klimt was never a professor at the Academy; but before those who mocked him, he held up the mirror of “naked truth” - Nuda Veritas.
Austrian National Library in Vienna
Nuda Veritas (Naked Truth).
1899
With the painting “The Naked Truth,” Klimt continued his challenge to the public. Nude red-haired woman holds a mirror of truth, above which is a quote from Schiller: “If you cannot please everyone with your deeds and your art, please few. Being liked by many is evil.”
This true woman, two meters tall, expressive and provocative in her nudity, confused and teased the Viennese public.
In 1902, Klimt completed the Beethoven Frieze for the 14th Secession Exhibition. The frieze formed part of the monument to the composer and also contained a monumental painted sculpture by Max Klinger. The frieze was intended for exhibition only and was made directly on the wall using unstable materials. After the exhibition, the frieze was preserved, although it was not exhibited again until 1986.
Beethoven Frieze, detail, Longing for Happiness 1, 1902
Gustav Klimt: Beethoven's Frieze, The Suffering of Humanity
Beethoven's frieze - The search for happiness is reflected in poetry (1902) (216 x 1378) (Vienna, Belvedere Gallery)
Longing for happiness\Chorus of angels of heaven\This kiss to the whole world
Beethoven Frieze - Hostile Forces ( full view) (1902) (Vienna, Belvedere Gallery)
Beethoven Frieze, detail, The Hostile Forces - Lust, Gluttony, 1902
Klimt led a fairly simple life, worked in his own home, devoted all his time to painting (including the Secession movement) and family, and was not on friendly terms with other artists. He was famous enough to receive many private orders, and had the opportunity to choose from them what was interesting to him. Like Rodin, Klimt used mythology and allegory to disguise his deeply erotic nature, and his drawings often betray a purely sexual interest in women.
Klimt wrote very little about his vision of art or his methods. He did not keep a diary, and sent postcards to Flöge. In the essay “Commentary on a Non-Existent Self-Portrait,” he states: “I have never painted self-portraits. I am much less interested in myself as a subject of a picture than in other people, especially women... There is nothing special about me. I am an artist who paints day after day from morning to night... Anyone who wants to know anything about me... should carefully examine my paintings.”
GOLDEN PERIOD.
The “golden period” of Klimt’s work was marked by a positive response from critics and was the most successful for Klimt. The name of the period comes from the gilding used in many of the artist's works, starting with The Palace of Athena (1898) and Judith (1901), but his most famous work from this period is The Kiss (1907-1908).
Golden Knight (1903) (100 x 100) (Japan, Aichi Art Gallery)
LOVE FORMULA.
The painting “The Kiss” is probably Klimt’s most chaste work. An artist whose many canvases and drawings are filled with nudes female figures, depicted in very bold poses, and who more than once shocked his contemporaries with the spicy sensuality of his works, wrote a love scene, not only without revealing, but carefully draping the heroes.
Kiss
Galerie Belvedere, Vienna
1908, 180x180
He takes his favorite technique - volumetric modeling of open parts of the body on a flat ornamental background - to the extreme in “The Kiss”: two heads, male hands and female hands, a woman’s feet – that’s all that is open to us and, despite the bright richness of the ornamentation, tirelessly attracts our gaze.
In his compositions (excluding, of course, portraits), Klimt rarely focuses on the face: for him, pose and gesture are more important. So in “The Kiss”: a woman kneeling with her head selflessly thrown back to her shoulder and eyes closed- the personification of humility and at the same time detachment, almost religious ecstasy.
We don’t see the man’s face, but in the decisive tilt of his head, in the trembling of sensitive fingers touching his girlfriend’s face, the full force of growing passion is felt. The picture is considered autobiographical: most researchers perceive in the woman’s face a resemblance to Klimt’s beloved Emilia Flöge. The painter's romance with Emilia Flöge, a famous fashion designer, lasted 27 years and, despite the many hobbies of the loving Klimt, became the main thing in his life.
Of course, it would be too straightforward to identify the male figure with the author of the painting, but, undoubtedly, the deeply personal experience of the artist fuels this work. The feminine principle is presented in “The Kiss” as soft and sacrificial, which is unusual for Klimt.
Both figures are hidden by decorative clothes decorated with spirals, ovals, circles and others geometric shapes, so you won’t immediately be able to discern the figures hidden underneath them. The same manner is typical for portraits of real women. There are many of them, Klimt's women. Charming faces, hairstyles, hands, jewelry, but dresses and backgrounds, like in a magical kaleidoscope, turn into a unique fairy-tale decoration. This is exactly how he saw man, his beauty, weaknesses, fears and passions. And where this was not the case, nature remained.
“The Kiss” can be called a “formula of love”: many metaphors stored in the memory of mankind for centuries found a simple and precise plastic expression in this picture: the golden radiance of happiness, a blooming earth that has become a paradise for lovers, a Universe in which there is no one and nothing except these two, a moment long into eternity... With its chastity and sincerity, the picture immediately won the hearts of the discerning Viennese public.
She also conquered those who had previously reproached Klimt for “morbid eroticism” and “mannerliness.” The fate of “The Kiss” was happy: at the exhibition in 1908, the painting was a triumph. The exhibition had not yet closed, but it had already been bought by the Contemporary Gallery (later the Austrian Belvedere Gallery), and since then we have not ceased to admire it.
Portrait of Emilia Flöge (1902) (181 x 84) Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Emilia Flöge was great love Klimt and his companion until the end of his days. She managed a fashion house, and he came up with sketches of fabrics and dresses for her. His designs look as if they were cut from the designs of his paintings.
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, 1907
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, painted by Gustav Klimt in 1907.
The painting is also known as " Golden Adele"or "Austrian Mona Lisa". In 2006, American entrepreneur and president of the New York Solomon Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art Ronald S. Lauder purchased it for $135,000,000
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, Detail with an Art Nouveau frame of the artist Patrick Hagen
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, detail with Art Nouveau frame by artist Patrick Hagen
Images of strong female rulers (“Pallada Athena”, 1898, “The Naked Truth”, 1899) and fatal beauties, suppressing and destroying a man (“Judith I”, 1901, “Salome” or “Judith II”, 1909) are much more common found in his works. In "The Kiss" the masculine and feminine do not fight, but reconcile, merging together
One of the most popular ideas of the fin de siècle (end of the century) was the dominance of women over men. The theme of the “battle of the sexes” permeated the salons; artists and intellectuals also participated in the discussion.
Athena-Pallas (1898) (75 x 75)
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Pallas Athena was the first image in his gallery of “superwomen”: with her armor and weapons, Athena is confident of victory, she subjugates a man, and perhaps the entire male sex. Some elements appearing in this painting will be fundamental in Klimt's future work: for example, the use of gold and the transformation of the body into an ornament, and the ornament into a body. Klimt continued to work with external form, in contrast to the younger generation of Expressionists, who sought immediate insight into the soul. Klimt's visual language took both male and female symbols from the world of Freudian dreams. The sensual, eroticized ornament reflects one of the sides of Klimt’s ideas about the world.
Judith 1 (1901) (84 x 42)
Vienna, Belvedere Gallery
Judith 1 (1901) (84 x 42) (Vienna, Belvedere Gallery)_fragment
Judith 2 (1909) (Venice, Gallery of Modern Art)
Judith I and, eight years later, Judith II are the next incarnations of Klimt's femme fatale archetype. His Judith is not a biblical heroine, but rather a Viennese, his contemporary, as evidenced by her fashionable, perhaps expensive, necklace. According to the publications of Bertha Zuckerkandl, Klimt created the type of vamp woman long before Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich, who personified him, appeared on the silver screen. Proud and free, but at the same time mysterious and enchanting, the femme fatale values herself higher than the male spectator.
Hope 1 (1903)
Ottawa, National Museum
Nadezhda II, 1907-08
Three ages of a woman (1905) (National Gallery of Contemporary Art)
Tree of Life (Stoclet Frieze)
MAK, Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna
1905-09
Waiting / Tree of Life / Accomplishment
MAK - Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna
1905-09
Stoclet Frieze - The Embrace, 1909
Virgin (1912-1913)
Prague, National museum
Portrait of Eugenia Primavesi (c.1912) (149.9 x 110.5) (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Most of Gustav Klimt's paintings look like an intricate mosaic or collage... as if the artist poured colored pieces of paper, ribbons, shreds, fragments of old vases, knitted circles and squares onto the table and began to mix... but with a brilliant hand... And suddenly he stopped... the fragments of the mosaic froze, somehow docked with each other... and suddenly some kind of beautiful woman…
In no other work has the artist brought female sexuality to such hypertrophy - this is self-absorbed lust.
Girlfriends (1916-1917) (99 x 99) (the painting was in the National Museum of Prague, destroyed in a fire in 1945)
Gustav Klimt: Love
Goldfish (1901-1902)
(Vienna, private collection)
Klimt did not allow himself to be intimidated by harsh criticism and continued to follow his own path. His only response to the militant opposition was a painting that was first called My Critics, and after the exhibition - Goldfish. Public anger reached its climax: a beautiful naughty nymph in the foreground exposed her butt for everyone to see! Marine figures beckon the viewer into a world of sexual fantasies and associations comparable to the world of Freudian symbols. This world had already been glimpsed in The Current and Nymphs (Silver Fish) and would be revealed again a few years later in Water Snakes I and Water Snakes II. Art Nouveau loved to depict the underwater kingdom, where dark and light algae grow on Venus mollusks or a delicate tropical coral body shimmers in the center of a bivalve shell. The meaning of the symbols returns us to their undoubted prototype - the woman. In these underwater dreams, the algae becomes hair growing on the head and pubic area. They follow the flow in the undulating movement so characteristic of Modernity. With languid resistance they yield to the embrace of the sea elements, just as Danae is open to Zeus, penetrating into her in the form of golden rain.
Gustav Klimt: 1895 Music I
Schubert at the Piano, 1899
Gustav Klimt: Schubert at the piano
The painting with Schubert shows the composer at home, surrounded by music, which is the highest aesthetic point of security and the right way of life. The stage is illuminated by the warm light of candelabra, which softens the outlines of the figures so that they dissolve in festive harmony... Klimt uses the impressionist technique to place his historical reconstruction into an atmosphere of nostalgic memories. He presents us with a sweet dream, bright but disembodied - a dream of innocent, pleasurable art in the service of a carefree society.
In 2015, the premiere of the film “Woman in Gold,” directed by Simon Curtis and starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds, told the story of Maria Altmann, who tries to return to her family a portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, one of the masterpieces painted by Gustav Klimt.
“365” studied the paintings of the Austrian master in order to figure out who these women are who mysteriously look at us from his canvases.
Gustav Klimt was born on July 14, 1862 in the Austro-Hungarian city of Baumgarten in the family of the engraver and jeweler Ernest Klimt. The family had seven children: three boys and four girls. By the way, all three of Ernest’s sons became artists.
At first, Gustav learns to draw from his father, but then enters the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts at the Austrian Museum of Art, where he specializes in architectural painting. Then the model for Gustav was the artist Hans Makart, a representative of academicism. And, by the way, unlike most young artists At that time, Klimt agreed with the canons of academic painting and did not oppose the principles of conservative academic drawing.
Gustav, his brother Ernst and their friend Franz Matsch worked together since 1880 - they decorated theaters and museums with frescoes. In 1888, Gustav Klimt received the Golden Cross award, which was presented to him by Emperor Franz Joseph for his services to art. But after some time in Klimt’s life comes crucial moment: His father and brother die, and all responsibility for the family falls on Gustav.
These events could not pass without a trace - Klimt’s artistic view was changing, his own style. In 1897, Klimt headed the Secession - artistic association innovators, created as a counterweight to conservative representatives of art. Gustav Klimt is the founder of modernism in Austrian painting. In his works one can most often find a clear silhouette and ornamentalism . At all, The main subject of his work is the female body. Most of his paintings are permeated with eroticism.
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907)
The painting is also known as “Golden Adele” or “Austrian Mona Lisa”.
Adele - daughter general director Vienna Banking Union. In 1903, Gustav Klimt received an order for a portrait of Adele from her husband, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, but the painting “Golden Adele” was released only in 1907 - in four years, Klimt made more than a hundred sketches for it. This painting is considered one of the artist's most significant works.
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II (1912)
This portrait, among other works by Klimt, hung in Adele's home until her family was arrested by the Nazis during World War II. The Austrian museum, where the painting ended up after the war, refused to return it to its owners. But after a trial, this and several other paintings by the artist were returned to Maria Altmann, the niece of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, in 2006.
Judith with the head of Holofernes
Judith – heroic image a young woman who saved her Jewish people from Assyrian captivity by cutting off the head of the enemy general Holofernes.
The story of Judith has inspired many artists in the history of world art. Klimt presented Judith in the image of a seductress, bold and desperate. Here she is the fatal winner. The girl comes out of Holofernes's tent, still half naked, carrying the head of the enemy in her hands. Despite her arrogant look, Klimt’s heroine remains fragile and feminine.
The portrait was created in 1901. The model was his beloved Adele Bloch-Bauer, the daughter of the general director of the Vienna Banking Union. Although Klimt did not advertise the fact of her posing.
The work has caused controversy. Judith was not happy in her marriage, and the victory over Holofernes became a kind of challenge to the entire male society. It is not for nothing that Klimt depicted her as deliberately sensual, in golden tones, which signify a symbol of triumph.
Three Ages of Woman (1905)
In the painting, Klimt depicted the circle of life: on the one hand, a peaceful young woman with a child in her arms, on the other, an old, depressed woman. They even contrast with colors that set the mood: youth is depicted as bright, radiant, while old age is gray and doomed. Art critics call the cycle of life one of the central motifs of the artist’s works.
Danae (1907-1908)
The painting “Danae” is an illustration of the myth of Zeus. According to this myth, he fell in love with the girl Danae and, in order to take possession of her, rained gold, after which Danae gave birth to Perseus. Klimt discards all the details and captures precisely the moment of love between Zeus and Danae. Despite the fact that many of the artist’s paintings are characterized by the motif of eroticism, “Danae” is the most explicit of his works.
Lady with a Fan (1917-1918)
Creating an image eastern woman in this picture, Gustav Klimt did not depict any specific woman, here the image is a collective one. The models for the painting were grace and elegance.
Lady with a Hat and Boa (1909)
Despite the fact that we see only part of the lady’s face, practically just one look, the artist was able to convey in it the full strength of her character. Despite the fact that her body is completely covered, the picture is not devoid of eroticism: it, again, is conveyed by this look full of confidence and mystery.
Portrait of Fritz Riedler (1906)
At first glance, it seems that this portrait of the wife of a government official is extremely modest. But this is only at first glance: looking more closely at her face, we see restrained sensuality: a half-open mouth, a blush. And the chair on which she sits is decorated with “peacock eyes” - symbolism with sexual overtones.
Hope I (1903)
Germa worked as a model to support her family. After Herma became pregnant, she wanted to leave her job, but Klimt could not allow one of his favorite models to leave. The result is a very touching portrait: despite the deep gaze of the expectant mother, expressing calm, in the background we can see frightening grimaces that can be deciphered as threats and fears for the child.
Virgo (1913)
“The Virgin” by Klimt is the story of a girl’s transformation into a woman. The main character of the picture is sleeping peacefully, the expression on her face is also serene, immaculate, you can see her nightgown. And at this time, more sophisticated and sensual women penetrate into her dream, which the heroine has yet to become. But this world has already come very close to the girl and enveloped her.
Girl with a Blue Veil (1903)
In this work, the artist paid a lot of attention to the model’s hair: he carefully worked it out, and the color of the background and veil contrasts perfectly with the color of the hair. They are the main decoration of a girl. Despite the open body, the picture turned out to be moderately restrained, not overtly erotic. There is an assumption that the model was the model Herma, familiar to us from the painting “Nadezhda I”.
Text: Anna Simonaeva, Sofya Zubareva
