Gustav klimt periods vienna secession professional#

In 1892 Klimt's father and brother Ernst both died, and he had to assume financial responsibility for his father's and brother's families. He also became an honorary member of the University of Munich and the University of Vienna. In 1888 Klimt received the Golden Order of Merit from Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria for his contributions to murals painted in the Burgtheater in Vienna.

Gustav klimt periods vienna secession professional#

Klimt began his professional career painting interior murals and ceilings in large public buildings on the Ringstraße, including a successful series of 'Allegories and Emblems'. They also helped their teacher in painting murals in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The two brothers and their friend, Franz Matsch, began working together and by 1880 they had received numerous commissions as a team that they called the 'Company of Artists'.

In 1877 his brother, Ernst, who, like his father, would become an engraver, also enrolled in the school. Klimt readily accepted the principles of a conservative training his early work may be classified as academic. He revered Vienna's foremost history painter of the time, Hans Makart. Klimt lived in poverty while attending the Vienna Kunstgewerbeschule, a school of applied arts and crafts, now the University of Applied Arts Vienna, where he studied architectural painting from 1876 until 1883. Klimt's younger brothers were Ernst Klimt and Georg Klimt. All three of their sons displayed artistic talent early on. His father, Ernst Klimt the Elder, formerly from Bohemia, was a gold engraver. His mother, Anna Klimt (née Finster), had an unrealized ambition to be a musical performer. Gustav Klimt was born in Baumgarten, near Vienna in Austria-Hungary, the second of seven children-three boys and four girls. Klimt's work was an important influence on his younger contemporary Egon Schiele. He subsequently accepted no more public commissions, but achieved a new success with the paintings of his 'golden phase', many of which include gold leaf. As he developed a more personal style, his work was the subject of controversy that culminated when the paintings he completed around 1900 for the ceiling of the Great Hall of the University of Vienna were criticized as pornographic. Among the artists of the Vienna Secession, Klimt was the most influenced by Japanese art and its methods.Įarly in his artistic career, he was a successful painter of architectural decorations in a conventional manner. In addition to his figurative works, which include allegories and portraits, he painted landscapes. Klimt's primary subject was the female body, and his works are marked by a frank eroticism. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Gustav Klimt (J– February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. His paintings have brought in the highest amounts ever paid at auction. Klimt died in the influenza epidemic of 1918, leaving behind a posthumous legacy that few artists can rival. The majority of his paintings were characterized by golden or colored swirling designs, spirals, and phallic shapes, depicting dominant women in erotic positions. This may be an indication of his passion for women, their form and sexuality, which was the main focus of many of his works. He also had many discreet affairs with women, and fathered at least 14 children. He often wore a long robe, sandals, and no undergarments. Klimt lived a simple, cloistered life, in which he avoided other artists and café society. He was also a founding member and president of the Vienna Secession, which sought to create a platform for new and unconventional artists, bring new artists to Vienna, and created a magazine to showcase its member’ work.

Throughout his life, although he was a controversial painter due to his subject matter, he was made an honorary member of the Universities of Vienna and of Munich. The family tragedy also affected his artistic vision, which helped him develop his own personal style. In 1892, his father and one of his brothers died, leaving him responsible for their families. Klimt attended the Vienna University of Arts and Crafts in 1876, and formed the “Company of Artists” with his two brothers and a friend, after which he was awarded the Golden Order of Merit from the Emperor of Vienna. His paintings, murals, and sketches are marked by a sensual eroticism, which is especially apparent in his pencil drawings. Gustav Klimt was an Austrian symbolist painter, whose primary subject was the female body.