Mia Notheisen, On Gustav Klimt 

Gustav Klimt was born on July 14th 1862 in Vienna and also died there on February 6th 1918 at the age of 55. 

He was a symbolist painter and known for his paintings, sketches, murals and other art objects. 

Klimt’s art often focused on the female body but he also painted landscapes. Japanese art and its methods had a great influence on Klimt’s work. His art was often criticized for being too pornographic, especially after he finished the paintings for the ceiling of the Great Hall of the University of Vienna, and his works were always surrounded with controversy. The Ceiling Paintings consisted of 3 paintings: “Philosophy”, “Medicine” and “Jurisprudence”.1 

The painting of the three that struck me the most was “Medicine”. On the bottom of the piece you can see Hygieia the Greek Goddess of health, above her Kilmt painted a column of semi-nude figures representing the river of life and death. Life is symbolised by a young woman with an infant at her feet, death is depicted by a skeleton. The piece represents the unity of life and death and completely ignores the achievement of Medicine. This was also the cause of a lot of criticism. The painting moved several times and its final exhibition was in 1943. After that it was moved to a castle in Lower Austria for protection. The painting is believed to be destroyed by a fire set by the German SS forces but there is no proof of that. 

1“Medicine” by Gustav Klimt (1899-1907) source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klimt_University_of_Vienna_Ceiling_Paintings#/media/File:Klimtmedicine photo.jpg

A few photographs and sketches is all that remains of “Medicine” and only one photograph shows the whole piece. 

Following the events of the Ceiling Paintings he stopped doing public commissions completely. He then gained a lot more success with the paintings he did in his “Golden Phase”. Two famous works of this era were “The portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” (1907) and “The Kiss” (1907-1908).2 

“The Kiss” (originally exhibited as “The Lovers”) is probably Klimt’s most popular work. The painting depicts an embracing couple. Their bodies are entwined with each other, they are both wearing long robes which were inspired by both the Arts and Craft Movement and the Art Nouveau style. This piece shows a sense of love, intimacy and sexuality like many other of Klimt’s works. He painted this shortly after the paintings for the University of Vienna but unlike his previous work, it was received enthusiastically and even sold to the government before it was even finished in 1908. “The Kiss” still influences pop culture today, it is shown in several TV shows and movies including one episode of the TV show “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”. 

A lot of his works are still left unfinished but many of his paintings can be seen all around the world, especially in his hometown Vienna. 

. 

2“The Kiss” by Gustav Klimt (1907-1908) source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Klimt#/media/File:The_Kiss_-_Gustav_Klimt_-_Google_Cultural_ Institute.jpg