Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt was born in Austria in 1862 and began his career as a painter by attending the Vienna Kunstgewerbeschule, which is now known as the University of Applied Arts Vienna. In his earlier years, his art consisted of painting interior murals with a group called “Company of Artists” whose work became fairly successful. However, Klimt is best known for his Golden Phase, in which he combined flat, geometric shapes with carefully rendered figures and used gold leaf to highlight parts of his paintings. His most famous painting, The Kiss (Fig. 1), showcases this style particularly well and is an outwardly beautiful painting (although the meaning behind it is quite explicitly sexual).

My favourite painting of his is Medicine/Hygeia (Fig. 2) because of the movement portrayed in the strands coming down her clothing. I love the balance between geometric and rendered in Klimt’s pieces. He has inspired me many times with my own artwork to find a similar balance as well.

Figure 1: The Kiss, 1907-08

Figure 2: Medicine/Hygeia, 1899-1907

Adele Bloch-Bauer, 1907

Hope II, 1907-08

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Works Cited

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Klimt

Rogoyska, Jane, et al. Gustav Klimt. New York : Parkstone International, [2011], 2011. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.capilanou.ca/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat02755a&AN=cul.b1100456&site=eds-live&scope=site.