Gustav Klimt(German Gustav Klimt; July 14, 1862, Baumgarten, Austrian Empire - February 6, 1918, Vienna, Austria-Hungary) - a well-known Austrian artist, the founder of Art Nouveau in Austrian painting. The main subject of his painting was female body, and most of his works are distinguished by frank eroticism.
Childhood and education
Gustav Klimt was born in the Vienna suburb of Baumgarten in the family of the engraver and jeweler Ernest Klimt, was the second of seven children - three boys and four girls. Klimt's father was a native of Bohemia and a gold engraver, his mother, Anna Klimt, nee Finster, tried, but could not become a musician. Klimt spent most of his childhood in poverty, as the economic situation in the country was difficult, and his parents did not have a permanent job. All three sons of Ernest Klimt became artists.
At first, Gustav learned to draw from his father, and then, from 1876, at the Vienna Art and Craft School at the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry (teachers Karl Grakhovina, Ludwig Minnigerode, Michael Rieser), which his brother Ernst also entered in 1877. Gustav Klimt studied there until 1883 and specialized in architectural painting. The model for him during this period was the historical genre painter Hans Makart. Unlike many other young artists, Klimt agreed with the principles of a conservative academic education. Since 1880, Gustav, his brother Ernst and their friend, the painter Franz Mac, worked together, decorating theaters in Reichenberg, Rijeka and Karlovy Vary (cities of the Austro-Hungarian province) with frescoes. In 1885, they worked on the design of the Vienna building "Burgtheater" and the Kunsthistorisches Museum. In 1888, Klimt received an award from Emperor Franz Joseph - the "Golden Cross" for services to art. He also became an honorary member of the Munich and Vienna universities.
In 1892, father and brother Ernst died, and Gustav was financially responsible for the family. In addition, these events left their mark on his artistic views, and soon he began to develop a deeply individual style. In the early 1890s, the artist met Emilia Flöge, who, despite his relationships with other women, remained his companion until the end of his days.
Vienna Secession
Klimt in 1897 became one of the founders and president of the Vienna Secession and the magazine "Ver Sacrum" ( Sacred spring) published by the group. He remained with the group until 1908. The initial goals of the Secession were to organize exhibitions for young artists writing in an unusual style, to attract the best works of foreign artists to Vienna, and to popularize the work of group members through the publication of a magazine. The group did not have a manifesto, and it did not try to develop a single style: naturalists, realists and symbolists coexisted in it. The government supported their efforts and leased a piece of city land to them to build an exhibition hall. The symbol of the group was Pallas Athena, a symbol of justice, wisdom and art.
From the beginning of the 1890s, Klimt annually rested with the Flöge family on Lake Attersee and painted many landscapes there. The landscape genre was the only non-figurative painting that interested Klimt. Klimt's landscapes are similar in style to his depictions of figures and contain the same design elements. Landscapes of the Attersee are so well nested in the plane of the canvas that it is sometimes assumed that Klimt viewed them through a telescope.
In 1894, Klimt received an order to create three paintings to decorate the ceiling of the large assembly hall of the main building of the University of Vienna on the Ringstrasse. The allegorical paintings "Philosophy", "Medicine" and "Jurisprudence", known as "faculty", were completed by 1900. They were sharply criticized for the subject, which was called "pornographic". Klimt transformed traditional allegories and symbols into a new language, with a greater emphasis on the erotic, and therefore more annoying to conservative viewers. Dissatisfaction was expressed by all circles - political, aesthetic and religious. As a result, the paintings were not displayed in the main university building. This was the last public order that the artist agreed to complete. After that, the paintings were acquired by the philanthropist August Lederer. In the 1930s, the Nazi authorities nationalized Lederer's collection of Klimt's works. At the end of the war, these works were moved to the Immerhof Palace, but in 1945, allied forces entered the area, and the retreating SS troops set fire to the castle. The paintings are dead. All that exists today are scattered preliminary sketches, black and white photographs of three paintings of poor quality and one color photography Hygiea from Medicine. Its sparkling gold and red colors give an idea of how powerful these three lost works of art looked.
Picture " naked truth(1899) Klimt continued to challenge the public. A naked red-haired woman holds a mirror of truth, above which is placed a quote from Schiller: “If you cannot please everyone with your deeds and your art, please few. To be liked by many is evil.
In 1902, Klimt completed the Beethoven Frieze for the 14th Secession exhibition. The frieze was part of a monument to the composer and also contained a monumental painted sculpture by Max Klinger. The frieze was intended only for the exhibition and was made directly on the wall with unstable materials. After the exhibition, the frieze was preserved, although it was not exhibited again until 1986.
"Golden Age"
The "golden period" of Klimt's work was marked by a positive reaction from critics and is the most successful for Klimt. The name of the period comes from the gilding used in many of the artist's works, beginning with " Palace of Athens" (1898) and " Judith” (1901), but his most famous work of this period is “ Kiss"(1907-1908). The golden background and symbolism, close to Byzantine, go back to the mosaics of Venice and Ravenna, seen by Klimt during his trip to Italy. At the same time, he became interested in decorative art in the Art Nouveau style. In 1904, he and a group of artists received an order for the decoration of the Stoclet Palace, owned by a Belgian industrialist and which became one of famous monuments Art Nouveau. Klimt owns the details of the decorations of the dining room, which he himself attributed to his best decorative works. Between 1907 and 1909, Klimt completed five portraits of women dressed in furs.
Klimt led a fairly simple lifestyle, worked in own house, 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 commissions, and was able to choose from them what he was interested in. Like Rodin, Klimt used mythology and allegory to mask his deeply erotic nature, and his drawings often betray a purely sexual interest in women. As a rule, his models agreed to pose in any arbitrarily erotic positions; many of them were prostitutes.
Klimt wrote very little about his vision of art or his methods. He did not keep a diary, and sent postcards to Flöge. In his Commentary on a Non-Existing Self-Portrait, he states: “I have never painted self-portraits. I am much less interested in myself as the subject of a picture than other people, especially women ... There is nothing special about me. I am an artist who paints day after day from morning to night… Whoever wants to know something about me… should carefully consider my paintings.”
Personal life
Gustav Klimt never married, but he had numerous affairs. He is credited with from three to forty illegitimate children. For example, the Austrian film director and cameraman Gustav Ucicki claimed that he was the son of Klimt.
In his longest and most intimate relationship with a woman, there may have been no sex at all, according to biographers.
Klimt met Emilie Flöge in the early 1890s when her sister Helen married Ernst, the artist's brother. After the death of Ernst, Helen returned to her parents' house with her daughter, whose guardian Gustav was appointed.
In 1904, the three Flöge sisters founded a fashion house and became the leading couturiers in Vienna. Adapting Parisian fashions to local tastes and creating their own designs, the sisters dressed Austria's most elegant and wealthy women. Klimt contributed to Flöge's models and helped decorate the demonstration room.
Gradually, Emilia and Gustav became inseparable - at least in business. Many biographers and experts doubt that they had an affair. Emilia was proud of her modernity, in her personal life no one had an order for her, and Klimt probably treated her as an equal person.
They were so close that last words stroke-stricken Klimt were: "Send for Emilia."
Last years
In 1911, Klimt's painting " Life and death”received a prize at the World Exhibition in Rome. In 1915 his mother died.
February 6, 1918 Gustav Klimt died in Vienna from pneumonia, having suffered a stroke before that. He was buried at the Hietzing Cemetery in Vienna. Many paintings were left unfinished.
Style and criticism
As objects of the image, Klimt preferred women. If a man appeared in his picture, then his face is usually hidden or hidden.
For example, in The Kiss, the artist's most celebrated work, a man leans over a woman, his face turned away from the viewer as he presses his lips to her cheek. The woman, head tilted at an unnaturally right angle, seems to faint in his arms. Both figures, dressed in gold, kneel among the flowers.
Many contemporary critics, especially feminist art historians, criticize Klimt's manner of depicting women as a passive object of male desire; they note that the man in The Kiss dominates the woman, who is forced to huddle up to him for support.
Since 1910, Klimt began to move away from the overloaded decorative style. In the second portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, painted in 1912, the extravagant gold is no longer there; now color is more important to Klimt: Adele dressed in white is depicted against a background of blue, green and pink color spots. But Klimt did not have enough time to develop a new style - the First World War broke out, and on February 6, 1918 he died.
Memory
In 2006, the premiere of the film "Klimt" about the life of the artist took place, directed by Raul Ruiz, starring John Malkovich. The film received the prize of the Federation of Film Clubs of Russia as the best main film competitive program XXVIII Moscow International Film Festival.
In 2009, the premiere of the musical Gustav Klimt took place in Austria, in which Andre Bauer played the role of Klimt, and Sabine Nybersch played Emilia Flöge. The musical premiered in Vienna from September 1 to October 7, 2012.
The image of Klimt is also presented in the films Mahler on the Couch and Bride of the Wind.
The Woman in Gold is a 2015 film. The story of Maria Altmann, who is trying to achieve justice - to return the values \u200b\u200btaken from her family by the Nazis several decades ago. Among the cultural heritage of a woman is the famous painting by Gustav Klimt "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer", sometimes called "Golden Adele".
Other information
- One hundred and thirty-five million US dollars were paid at auction in 2006 for "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer", painted by Gustav Klimt in 1907.
- In the opening and closing compositions of the anime series "Elven Song" by Mamoru Kanbe, the main characters of the series appear before the viewer in a stylized form of paintings by Gustav Klimt "Kiss", "Hugs", "Three Ages of a Woman", "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I", " Water snakes I", "Water snakes II", "Danae".
Gallery
Klimt in a blue haze, Egon Schiele, 1913
Kiss 1907–08, oil on canvas, Belvedere Gallery, Vienna
Adele Bloch-Bauer I sold for a record $135 million in 2006, Neue Galerie, New York
Adele Bloch-Bauer II, 1912, property of Maria Altmann, Los Angeles
Chao, Adele. Vienna, February 2006
Judith and the head of Holofernes, 1901. Austrian Gallery, Vienna
Judith II. 1901. Gallery of Modern Art, Venice
Athena Pallas. 1898. Vienna Historical Museum, Vienna
Beethoven frieze section, Secession House, Vienna
Goldfish. 1901-1902. Private collection, Switzerland
Hope I. 1903. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Hope II (1907-08), Gallery of Modern Art, New York
Water Serpents I (1904-1907)
Water Serpents II (1904-1907)
Three ages of women. 1905. National Gallery of Modern Art. Rome
Danae. 1907-1908. Leopold Museum. Vein
Innocence, 1913. National Gallery. Prague
Biography of Gustav Klimt
Born in the Vienna suburb of Baumgarten on July 14, 1862 in the family of the artist-engraver and jeweler E. Klimt. He studied with his father, and in 1875-1883 - at the school of crafts at the Vienna Austrian Art and Industry Museum. Initially, he was greatly influenced by the art of G. Makart with his pompous neo-baroque historicism. Upon graduation, he worked with his brother Ernst and the artist F. Match, decorating the theaters of the Austro-Hungarian province (in Reichenberg, Fiume and Karlsbad-Karlovy Vary) with decorative painting. From 1885, they also decorated Viennese buildings (among these works, the picturesque decor of the Burgtheater and the Kunsthistorisches Museum stand out - vivid examples of the magnificent “Ringstrasse style”, as Viennese historicism of the turn of the century is usually called). With the death of his brother Ernst (1892), the team broke up. Increasingly involved in the elements of modernity and, accordingly, in opposition to the academic tradition, Klimt became in 1897 one of the founders of the Vienna Secession, independent of the Academy of Arts (German: Sezession - “falling away”, “separation”) and its first president. Created on his initiative, the "Viennese Workshops" (1903) played important role in a stylistic update of Austrian design. For the exhibition building of the Secession (architects J. Hoffmann and J. Olbrich, 1897), Klimt created the Beethoven Frieze (1901-1902), embodying the themes of the Ninth Symphony. Another milestone decorative work, a cycle of allegorical panels, the so-called. "Faculty paintings" for the University of Vienna (1900-1903; preserved, in different collections, only fragments of the cycle), caused a scandal and was rejected by customers: Klimt's ladies, symbolizing Philosophy and other disciplines, seemed too cutesy and incompatible with the spirit of rigorous science. As an easel painter, Klimt went down in history, primarily with his highly expressive female portraits (E. Flöge, 1902, Historical Museum, Vienna; A. Bloch-Bauer, 1907, Gallery of the 19th and 20th centuries, Vienna) and symbolic paintings, saturated dramatic, "fatal" eroticism (Judith 1, 1901, Austrian Gallery in the Belvedere, Vienna; Kiss, 1907-1908, ibid; Salome, 1909, International Museum contemporary art, Venice; Danae, 1910, Welz Gallery, Salzburg). At first, he reinforced this “Dionysian” drama with golden backgrounds, then with large color patterns, from the shimmering elements of which, as if from the elements of the floor, shimmering figures were born. He was also a master of ornamental and colorful landscapes (Park, 1910, Museum of Modern Art, New York). His last major monumental work was the decoration of the Stoclet Palace in Brussels (1911). Leaving the Secession in 1906, he founded a new Union Austrian artists, supporting innovative artists at his exhibitions, in particular O. Kokoshka and E. Schiele. Only by 1917 did he win full official recognition, becoming an honorary professor at the Vienna and Munich academies. Klimt died in Vienna on February 6, 1918.
Chronology of the life of Gustav Klimt
July 14 in Baumgarten, near Vienna, Gustav Klimt was born. He was the second of seven children of the engraver Ernst Klimt and his wife Anna née Finster.
Gustav Klimt enters the School of Industrial Art in Vienna, where he studied until 1883 under the guidance of Ferdinand Laufberger and Julius Viktor Berger.
Klimt's younger brother, Ernst, also becomes a student at the School of Industrial Art. They collaborate by painting portraits from photographs and selling them for 6 guilders.
Together with their friend Franz Match, Gustav and Ernst Klimt performed decorative works to decorate the courtyard of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Three young people receive major commissions: four allegorical paintings for the ceiling of the Sturani Palace in Vienna; ceiling of the pavilion of mineral waters in Carlsbad (Czech Republic).
The interior decoration, made according to the drawings of Hans Makart, Hermes Palace, the favorite country residence of Empress Elizabeth.
While working on the Burgtheater, Klimt's style develops in a new direction, clearly different from the style of his comrades. Klimt departs from academicism; each of the three artists works independently.
Klimt receives from the hands of Emperor Franz Joseph I the Golden Order of Merit for his contribution to art.
Staircase painting in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Klimt receives the Imperial Prize (400 guilders) for his painting The Hall of the Old Burgtheater in Vienna.
Klimt's father, as well as later the artist himself, dies of a stroke. Death of Klimt's brother, Ernst.
The Ministry of Culture refuses to approve the appointment of Klimt as a professor at the Academy of Arts.
Klimt and Match are commissioned to create paintings for the walls and ceiling of the Great Hall of the University of Vienna.
Klimt receives first prize in Antwerp for his theater set design in Totis (Hungary).
Official rebellion: Klimt is the founder of the Secession and President-elect. He spends the summer with his companion, Emilia Flöge, in the Kammer area on the Attersee lake: first landscapes.
Composition for the first exhibition of the "Secession"; The Secession founds the journal Ver Sacrum.
The painting "Philosophy", rejected at the exhibition "Secession" by 87 professors, receives a gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris.
Continuation of the scandal at the exhibition "Secession": Klimt's painting "Medicine" becomes the subject of discussion in the Ministry of Education.
Meeting with Auguste Rodin, who admired the Beethoven Frieze.
Trip to Venice, Ravenna and Florence. The beginning of the "golden period". The paintings painted for the Great Hall of the University of Vienna are transferred, despite Klimt's protest, to the Austrian Gallery. Retrospective of Klimt's work
in the Secession Exhibition Building.
Klimt draws sketches for the wall mosaics of the Stoclet Palace in Brussels, made at the School of Industrial Art in Vienna.
Klimt buys paintings from the Ministry, written for the University of Vienna. He and his friends leave the Secession.
Klimt meets the young Egon Schiele. Picasso writes The Maidens of Avignon.
16 paintings are exhibited at the exhibition. National Gallery of Modern
Art in Rome acquires Three Ages of Woman, Austrian Gallery in Vienna -
"Kiss".
Beginning of work on the "Frieze Stoclet". A trip to Paris, where Klimt discovers the work of Toulouse-Lautrec and Fauvism with great interest. Van Gogh, Munch, Toorop, Gauguin, Bonnard, t Matisse are presented at the exhibition.
"Death and Life" wins first prize at the World Exhibition in Rome. Klimt
visits Rome, Florence, Brussels, London and Madrid.
Klimt replaces the background of "Death and Life" with blue (in the manner of Matisse).
Criticism of Klimt's work by expressionists.
Death of Klimt's mother. The artist's palette becomes darker, and his landscapes become more monochrome.
Klimt, together with Egon Schiele, Kokoschka and Feistauer, takes part in the exhibition of the Union of Austrian Artists organized by the Berlin Secession. The death of Emperor Franz Joseph I, two years before the collapse of the empire and the death of Klimt himself.
Start of work on The Bride and Adam and Eve. Klimt was elected an honorary member of the Vienna and Munich Academies of Art.
On February 6, after being struck, Klimt dies, leaving many paintings unfinished. End of an empire; foundation on the territory of the former empire of the Republic of Austria and six other republics. Death of Egon Schiele, Otto Wagner, Ferdinand Hodler, Koloman Moser...
When creating the chronology, materials from the book "Klimt" by Gilles Nere (Publishing House Tachen / Art Spring, 2000) were used
Related books
(Click on the picture to see the description of the book)
G. Klimt "Girlfriends"
One of the most famous painters past is Gustav Klimt, whose paintings are in great demand today. Unfortunately, there are not so many of his works, and all of them have long found their place in the best collections in the world. But when a miracle happens, and his paintings are put up for auction, their cost is fabulous.
Gustav Klimt, as a true artist, searched and found inspiration in female beauty all his life. But, as a true connoisseur, he did not stay with any beauty for a long time, and therefore none of them managed to be honored with the honor of being called Klimt's muse.
Gustav Klimt was born in the Vienna suburb of Baumgarten in the family of the engraver and jeweler Ernest Klimt, was the second of seven children - three boys and four girls. Klimt's father was a native of Bohemia and a gold engraver, his mother, Anna Klimt, nee Finster, tried, but could not become a musician. Klimt spent most of his childhood in poverty, as the economic situation in the country was difficult, and his parents did not have a permanent job. All three sons of Ernest Klimt became artists.
At first, Gustav learned to draw from his father, and then, from 1876, at the Vienna Art and Craft School at the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry (teachers Karl Grakhovina, Ludwig Minnigerode, Michael Rieser), which his brother Ernst entered in 1877. Gustav Klimt studied there until 1883 and specialized in architectural painting.
At the Artistic and Industrial School, where Klimt and his brothers studied on a scholarship, they drew attention to a promising student. Thanks to the lessons of his father, Gustav came to school as an excellent draftsman and a skilled designer, but he did not allow himself any indulgences. He studied seriously, diligently and thoughtfully, impressing teachers not only with success, but also with a fanatical desire to comprehend as much as possible. It was said that he bribed the servant of Hans Makart - the best Viennese painter of those years - in order to secretly enter the workshop of his idol and study the methods of his work on unfinished canvases. However, neither then nor later did the passion for high art did not prevent Klimt from remaining a pragmatist - even at school he learned to make good money by drawing portraits from photographs.
His model during this period was the historical genre painter Hans Makart. Unlike many other young artists, Klimt agreed with the principles of a conservative academic education.
Ernst and Gustav Klimt made notable progress before reaching the age of 20. In 1879, they collaborated with their Art School friend Franz Match and began to work together, quickly gaining fame. In 1880, the trio was invited to paint the mineral water pavilion in Karlsbad (now the city of Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic).
The early works of the artist are made in a naturalistic style. However, Klimt soon develops his own style, which distinguishes him from any other artist.
Three years later, the young artists opened their own workshop in Vienna, where for several years they performed commissions from provincial Austro-Hungarian cities. But with the development of Vienna itself, a need arose for the artistic design of new buildings. Therefore, in 1886 Klimts and Match took part in the creation of the interior of the new building of the national theater, depicting scenes from the history of the theater on the tympanum of the pediment and the plafonds of the main stairs.
The Globe Theater in London - Gustav Klimt
In 1885 they worked on the design of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, begun by the famous painter Hans Makart (1840-1884). This experience, in addition to psychological satisfaction, brought them good money, which they invested in expanding their workshop.
In 1888, Klimt received an award from Emperor Franz Joseph - the "Golden Cross" for services to art. He also became an honorary member of the Munich and Vienna universities.
In 1891, the Klimt brothers met the Flöge sisters - Polina, Helena and Emilia. The daughters of the cabinet maker Herman Flöge worked as dressmakers, and later, when the wealthy father became the first manufacturer of meerschaum pipes in the whole empire, they moved into the field of high fashion - the eldest, Polina, headed the haute couture school, the younger sisters ran a fashion house, a fashion salon and a textile factory . We repeat, it was already later, so Ernst Klimt fell in love with Helena Flöge quite disinterestedly. But if their meetings were crowned with a swift wedding, then Gustav's strange relationship with Emilia stretched out for life - it is still not clear how far they went. Apparently, a terrible tragedy brought them closer at the very beginning of their acquaintance - in 1892, the Klimts lost their father, and three months later, young and promising Ernst died quite unexpectedly from pericarditis. Gustav, who was always kind to his family, took this double blow hard, fell into a protracted depression and almost abandoned his work. However, Flöge visited the house regularly, visiting his one-year-old niece and morally supporting the young widow Helena. The fact that sincere sympathy would not interfere with himself was the first to guess eighteen-year-old Emilia ...
In the end, Klimt managed to restore peace of mind, but much has changed irrevocably. Official academic painting in which he reached all conceivable peaks, bored him for a long time. The difficult life situation strengthened the artist's individual style, finally shaping it. The first landscapes Klimt begins to write while traveling with Emilia in Kammer. Expressionism in the artist's work is actively developing in the 90s.
From the beginning of the 1890s, Klimt annually rested with the Flöge family on Lake Attersee and painted many landscapes there. The landscape genre was the only non-figurative painting that interested Klimt. Klimt's landscapes are similar in style to his depictions of figures and contain the same design elements. Landscapes of the Attersee are so well nested in the plane of the canvas that it is sometimes assumed that Klimt viewed them through a telescope.
In the murals depicting allegorical figures performed by Klimt in 1890-1891 on the vaults of the great staircase of the Museum of Art History in Vienna, for the first time, the features that became the main ones in his work appear - a clear silhouette and a penchant for ornamentalism. After 1898, Klimt's work takes on a more decorative, symbolic aspect.
He has already achieved a reputation famous artist, when in the early 90s his style changed, acquired a pronounced symbolist coloring. The spread of the Art Nouveau style in Europe, or Art Nouveau, as it was called in Austria, not only touched Klimt, but turned out to be the most important factor in his development as an artist.
The taste for symbolism, expressed in England in the work of the late Pre-Raphaelites, in the graphics of O. Beardsley, in France in the work of G. Sea, appealed to Klimt, whose works largely echo the works of these artists.
The year 1894 became a landmark in the creative biography Gustav Klimt. It was then that he and his colleague Match were asked to paint the Great Hall of the University of Vienna. But due to disagreements, the artists had to take on separate paintings, and soon Match and completely left their common workshop. What caused the conflict? The point was that Franz Mutsch remained true to the old traditional painting, Klimt actively looking for new approaches. This led to the fact that in 1897 he, along with his like-minded people, founded and led the revolutionary Vienna Secession, a group of dissident artists.
So, thanks to his determination and courage, Gustav Klimt from an artist fulfilling provincial orders, he turned into the leader of the Austrian avant-garde. The allegorical paintings "Philosophy", "Medicine" and "Jurisprudence", known as "faculty", were completed by 1900. They were sharply criticized for the subject matter, which was called "pornographic".
It was supposed that the artist would depict the triumph of sciences over universal chaos in the traditional manner, but Klimt decided differently: “Philosophy” in his sketches led people into an allegorical fog, “Medicine” indifferently turned away from the crowd of the dying, and “Jurisprudence” in the person of three furies ruthlessly attacked the human victim. And all this was flavored with a fair portion of undisguised eroticism.
Gustav Klimt "Pictures for the University" (Philosophy - Medicine - Jurisprudence)
In 1900, at the Secession exhibition Gustav Klimt, finally, presented "Philosophy" - his first work as part of the design of the University of Vienna. In response, eighty-seven university professors wrote to the Ministry of Education, accusing Klimt that he “expresses vague ideas with the help of indefinite forms”, and demanded to take away his order. It is curious that in the same 1900 year "Philosophy" was awarded a gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris.
Klimt transformed traditional allegories and symbols into a new language, with a greater emphasis on the erotic, and therefore more annoying to conservative viewers. Dissatisfaction was expressed by all circles - political, aesthetic and religious. As a result, the paintings were not displayed in the main university building. This was the last public order that the artist agreed to complete. After this, the paintings were acquired by patron August Lederer. In the 1930s, the Nazi authorities nationalized Lederer's collection of Klimt's works. At the end of the war, these works were moved to Immerhof Palace, but in 1945 Allied forces entered the area and retreating SS troops set fire to the castle. The paintings are dead. All that exists today are scattered preliminary sketches, black and white photographs of three poor quality paintings, and one color photograph of Hygiea from Medicine. Its sparkling gold and red colors give an idea of how powerful these three lost works of art looked.
About five hundred years before our era, the Roman plebeians, offended by the arrogant patricians, left the city and refused to return until fair laws were passed that would equalize the rights of all citizens. From the first time, they didn’t really succeed, but the rebels eventually achieved their goal: democracy, albeit partially, triumphed, and the exodus itself went down in history under the name “secessio plebis” - “secession of the plebeians”.
Gustav Klimt, the founder and long-term leader of the Vienna Secession - the famous movement of rebel artists - despite the fact that he was born on the outskirts of imperial Vienna, was also a typical plebeian by birth.
Subsequently Gustav Klimt never again dealt with government orders, preferring to create small-format allegorical paintings for private collections. And they were mostly portraits, well known to many admirers of his work.
And the shameless beauties from the paintings of Klimt continued to successfully tease the conservative public. At his exhibition, the famous collector Count Laskoronski, holding his head, ran from painting to painting, shouting: “What a horror!” And it was still a rather harmless reaction, but in general Klimt was offered to judge, expel from the country and even castrate. The answers of the secessionists were much more creative. The ideologist of the "Secession" Herman Bahr published a provocative book "Against Klimt", collecting there the most stupid and vicious attacks - the reader had to make sure that only idiots scolded Klimt. And Klimt himself called his next canvas “To My Critics” - the entire foreground of the picture was occupied by a luxurious female backside ...
And suddenly, in the midst of the battle, Klimt again made a sharp turn - he left the post of head of the Secession, founded his own Union of Austrian Artists and changed creative manner, opening its famous "Golden Age". Inspired by ancient Byzantine mosaics, he remembered the jewelry skills acquired in his youth and began to complement his paintings with magnificent gilded ornaments. Now he painted only faces and hands in portraits - framed by fantastic decor that replaced clothing and background, they were exactly like icons in gold salaries. And the main shrine of this pantheon was "Golden Adele" - a portrait of the young beauty Adele Bloch-Bauer - now the most expensive painting in the world.
Count even an approximate number of stories related to mysterious events, surrounding Klimt's painting "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer" is unlikely to succeed, and not only because the characters who were directly related to this masterpiece have already passed into another world, and the picture, as if alive, continues to excite people's imagination his unusual fate...
Only the Jewish mind can come up with a punishment for the offender, choosing for this purpose the very ... enemy who harmed him. The mind in which the plan of revenge was ripening belonged to the businessman Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, and Gustav Klimt, who could not resist the spell of the charming wife of the rich man, Adele, acted as the “offender”. This novel has long been discussed in the capital, but there could be no talk of divorce, and even more so of banal physical punishment for lovers. The relationship between the artist and Adele must end natural ways, but Bloch-Bauer reasoned that he should speed things up, and at the same time benefit from this unpleasant story, because his name would sound in the title of the picture.
Klimt constantly needed new relationships with women, without this “drug” he could not only create, but simply exist, therefore, having ordered a portrait of his wife, the industrialist counted on the inevitable satiety of lovers with each other, which would come while working on the canvas. The amount of the contract for the work stunned the artist, and for four years he worked on the work, having previously completed about a hundred sketches.
Working on the portrait, Klimt used the entire creative arsenal characteristic of the "golden period" of his painting: the face and hands, painted in a realistic manner, are combined with abstract scenery; Adele's attire and background are adorned with exotic symbolism, and the atmosphere is a subtle spicy "aroma".
All the "points" of the plan outlined by the customer were carried out, however, perhaps without his "brilliant" idea: his wife's health was getting worse, she smoked a lot, sometimes not getting out of bed all day, and work was often interrupted. Everyone was satisfied with the result of Klimt's efforts.
In 1938, when the artist and his fatal model, who contributed to the perpetuation of their names, as well as the name of Bloch-Bauer, were no longer alive, the elderly Ferdinand, fleeing from the Nazis, left the Golden Adele to his brother's family, and he settled in Switzerland. Maria Altman (before her marriage - Bloch-Bauer), Adele's niece, for some time became the owner of huge family treasures, including the famous portrait, but then she gave all the treasures for saving her husband. Hitler, although he ordered not to touch the work of Klimt, could not accept the painting into his collection due to the abundance of "Jewish roots" associated with its origin. The portrait appeared after the end of the war, and its condition was perfect, which is the merit of Alois Kunst, who once had tender feelings for Maria Bloch-Bauer and collaborated with the Gestapo during the war years. The painting took its place in the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, and Kunst continued to store the work, but in official status, becoming the director of the museum.
Maria Altman, who settled with her husband in England and then in the United States, would never have known about the fate of her aunt’s portrait, but journalist Hubertus Chernin managed to find out that there was a testament of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, according to which the “Golden Adele”, and together with her and other values should belong to the family, in this case, Mary.
For Austria, which considered the painting a national relic, the time has come for disturbing events that forced people, as well as all institutions of power, to rally around the desire to leave the canvas in the country in any way. The price of five works, among which was this masterpiece, rose from 155 million dollars to 300 million. Such an amount was unbearable for Austria.
Seeing off the "Golden Adele" could be compared with a nationwide event, without coercion gathered thousands of people who wished to say goodbye to the national treasure.
In the USA, for the "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer" a building was specially built, which is called the "Museum of Austrian and German art»; it was built by Ronald Lauder, the owner of the famous perfume giant Esty Lauder, who purchased the portrait from Maria Altman for $135 million. Niece Adele lived to the age of 94 and passed away peacefully in 2011.
For the journalist Chernin, the impoverished son of a count family, who believed that thanks to the provision of the services of Maria Altman, he would be able to live on a grand scale, fate had a more prosaic ending: only four months had passed after Austria parted with the Klimtian masterpieces and, according to the official police version, the journalist died of a heart attack.
Most likely, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer knew something, demanding from Klimt a work that will live for centuries.
The golden period" of Klimt's work was marked by a positive reaction from critics and is the most successful for Klimt. The name of the period comes from the gilding used in many of the artist's works, beginning with " Palace of Athens" () And " Judith" (), but his most famous work of this period is " Kiss» (-). The golden background and symbolism, close to Byzantine, date back to the mosaics of Venice and Ravenna, seen by Klimt during a trip to Italy. At the same time, he became interested in decorative art in the Art Nouveau style. In 1904, he and a group of artists received an order for the decoration of the Stoclet Palace, owned by a Belgian industrialist and which became one of the most famous monuments of Art Nouveau. Klimt owns the details of the decorations of the dining room, which he himself attributed to his best decorative works. Between 1909 and 1909, Klimt completed five portraits of women dressed in furs.
Judith is a character female, this is a widow who saved her entire Jewish family from enemies. The Assyrians besieged her hometown, the widow had to change clothes and go to the camp of the damned enemy. She was a very attractive maiden and the commander of the enemy side could not ignore her charms.
In his chambers, he consoled himself with a beautiful body and drank wine. After the man fell asleep, the maiden cut off his head and proudly brought it to the feet of her people. This story has inspired many artists of all time. Gustav Klimt was no exception. He portrayed his image of a brave and desperate woman.
In his understanding, Judith is a femme fatale. He depicted her coming out of the tent of the enemy. The girl did not have time to put herself in order and did not even wrap the edges of her robe. Her breasts peek out slightly from under the dress. The head in the hand is not immediately evident. The author sought to show her proud and slightly arrogant look. In this battle, she became a real winner and it doesn’t matter at all that the enemy was drunk and was in a state of sleep. The heroine still remains a fragile, feminine person who is ready to fight to the last.
The artist painted the picture in 1901. The wife of a famous banker in Venice posed for this portrait. The work was carried out for several years, then a new relationship arose with someone else's wife. As a result, the world saw a contradictory canvas. On the one hand, this is a woman who became a savior. She thought about the victory of the people and therefore gave her charms to Holofernes. Many condemn her, because it was more revenge and a surge of anger against the entire male population.
Everyone knows that the young maiden was unhappy in her marriage, she does not even cry when she learns about the death of her husband. The author uses solar colors as a symbol of victory and a new period in the life of the Jews. But the heroine's eyes are practically closed, it is not clear whether she is happy about this execution or regrets the murder she has committed.
Biographers claim that it is precisely because of his penchant for minimalism in the size of the works, Gustav Klimt received the biggest order in his life - an order for the design of the new house of the Belgian industrialist Adolphe Stoclet, known as the Frieze Stoclet.
Among the most famous works Klimt belongs to the frieze he made in the dining room of the Stocklet Palace in Brussels, built by J. Hofmann. The architecture of the Stoklet Palace itself is a typical work of Art Nouveau, and the Klimt frieze corresponds to the style of the building. Klimt was greatly impressed Byzantine mosaics, which is especially noticeable in the scenery of this palace. Actually, mosaic-ness was inherent in his picturesque style- he made up entire surfaces in his paintings from separate pieces of color, all kinds of curlicues and ornamental fragments. In the frieze of the Stoklet Palace, he works directly in the mosaic technique: a colorful composition is made up of colored enamel, glass, ceramics, metal, partially gilded, ivory, mother-of-pearl.
The use of expensive, exotic materials in this frieze is also quite in the taste of Art Nouveau. On the background of the frieze there are trees with branches stylized in spiral curls, with leaves and birds. There are also images of human figures in the frieze - “Waiting” in the form of a female figure, whose dress is decorated with an ornament of curls and triangles depicting an eye. The face is depicted so similar to the Japanese that one might think that it is copied from the engraving of the then popular Hiroeige. The other two figures are merged together in an embrace, resembling in composition a motif that is repeated many times in Klimt's paintings.
Gustav Klimt is the leader of the Viennese avant-garde at the turn of the century, an active member of the Secession community of innovative artists. Best works Klimt's later portraits, with their flat, unshaded surfaces, transparent, mosaic-like colors and shapes, and sinuous, ornate lines and patterns. Klimt's paintings combine two opposing forces; on the one hand, it is a thirst for absolute freedom in depicting objects, which leads to a play of ornamental forms. These works are in fact symbolic and must be seen in the context of symbolism as an expression of an unattainable world above time and reality. On the other hand, it is the power of perception of nature, the influence of which softens the splendor of ornamentation in his paintings.
Gustav Klimt created paintings that, in their artistic conception, were close to objects of decorative and applied art. The very impressions of reality served only as a pretext for the picture, but not as its content. Figures and objects were stylized in the spirit of Art Nouveau. Klimt's background was always planar, woven with small patterns. The contrast to this background was illusory, volumetrically interpreted parts of the image - usually the face.
Klimt depicted figures as elongated, often resorting to a sharply expressive profile silhouette. The staging of figures by Klimt is purely conditional, statuary; if it depicts two people, then this is most often the plot of a hug, a kiss, if there are several figures in the composition, then they all merge into one group, and the same conditional ornamental background spreads around them.
The models depicted by Klimt are always characterized by increased emotionality: they are nervous, tense, sensual, aggressive. It was his individual tone of perception of reality. It was revealed in the preparatory works of Klimt - his drawings. If during the life of the artist his drawings were little known and they were not given of great importance, then in last years Klimt's graphic heritage attracts great attention public and collectors. In Europe, several exhibitions devoted exclusively to Klimt's drawings were successfully held.
In 1909, Klimt continued the theme of Judith, without taking into account the negative reaction of society to previous works, which were far in essence from the plots described in the Bible. The traditional notions of virtue again gave way to their own, "impregnated" with sensual eroticism, view of the world.
In the painting “Judith II”, the painter managed to create an image showing what powerful internal forces can be hidden in the “weak” female nature. During this period of Klimt's life and work, in love relationships with Adele Bloch-Bauer, some kind of spark was probably still smoldering, otherwise, where would this terrible, and at the same time bewitching power of the energy of evil come from, a fountain erupting from the canvas.
Klimt did not particularly react to the hype around his first “Judith”, which offended the feelings of both the Jewish bourgeoisie and people of the Christian faith, but this time he decided not to make an inscription on the frame indicating the name of the picture, already knowing that the work would speak for itself (“Judith and Holofernes” was presented in a copper frame on which her name was engraved).
The people decided that this femme fatale, attracting the eye, but repelling the soul, can only be Salome, whose dance must be dedicated to Eros, depicted in an intriguing duet with Death; the viewer had to wait for the “denouement”, experiencing languishing tension. In many catalogs, the work was listed under the name of the biblical dancer, who destroyed John the Baptist with her “hellish” dance, but the fact that Klimt created a female character who could embody the most vicious fantasies, while calling him the name of the pious Judith, again caused a sharply negative reaction from critics .
The artist never gave explanations regarding any details of his works, so it remains unknown what, according to the author's intention, could be common to two such contradictory images.
If in the paintings and wall paintings of Klimt you can find many “quotes * from the work of other artists, the eclectic origins of his style, pompous and excessive stylization, are striking. artistic language, then in the drawings, where the artist briefly recorded impressions of? nature and plans for future paintings, his insight is manifested. the ability to show the essence, character of the model, to create an expressive artistic image with concise means.
The immediacy and frankness of Klimt as a draftsman explain to the historian why he, as an artistic personality, had such a huge influence in Vienna at the turn of the century. Klimt was a very gifted artist, but he considered the goal of his work not to reveal an individual view of the world, but to create a certain style common to fine and decorative art. Therefore, he borrowed and himself created certain “clichés” of images and ornaments, which he constantly applied in his works and which make them so similar friend on a friend. He tried to give his works a deep philosophical and psychological overtones. The vagueness of images and associations, embodied by Klimt. as if echoing the psychoanalytic constructions of his contemporary, the Viennese physician Sigmund Freud.
The obscurity of the symbols used by the artist, the emphasized ambiguity in the reading of all his compositions served to ensure that they did not lend themselves to one, precisely established decoding, but could be interpreted by everyone depending on his artistic experience. So, the reading options for his composition “Hope”, created in 1903 and depicting a young naked woman with an open womb, inside of which lies a child, can be ambiguous. Behind her is a skeleton and some monsters, reminiscent of the fact that the continuation of human life passes under the sign of death.
Klimt led a rather simple life, worked in his own house, 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 commissions, and was able to choose from them what he was interested in. Like Rodin, Klimt used mythology and allegory to mask his deeply erotic nature, and his drawings often betray a purely sexual interest in women. As a rule, his models agreed to pose in any arbitrarily erotic positions; many of them were prostitutes.
Klimt wrote very little about his vision of art or his methods. He did not keep a diary, and sent postcards to Flöge. In his Commentary on a Non-Existing Self-Portrait, he states: “I have never painted self-portraits. I am much less interested in myself as the subject of a picture than other people, especially women ... There is nothing special about me. I am an artist who paints day after day from morning to night… Whoever wants to know something about me… should carefully consider my paintings.”
Gustav Klimt never married, but he had numerous affairs. He is credited with from three to forty illegitimate children. For example, the Austrian film director and cameraman Gustav Ucicki claimed that he was the son of Klimt.
In his longest and most intimate relationship with a woman, sex may have been absent altogether, according to biographers.
With the methods of “management”, Klimt surprisingly resembled another illustrious resident of the then Vienna - Sigmund Freud, who also made a fortune on the whims of rich ladies. By the way, the similarities don't end there. The eroticism that permeates almost every Klimt's canvas remarkably echoes the ubiquitous Freudian libido, and the symbolic clash of the world's elements - another leitmotif of his work - is traditionally interpreted through the Freudian confrontation between Eros and Thanatos. Although it is still unknown what happened before, because Freud developed this part of his theory after Klimt's death.
Whether Klimt attended consultations with Freud is, of course, an interesting question. Of course, Gustav, with his poorly concealed erotomania, was a real find for psychoanalysts, but it is unlikely that he himself considered his weakness to be a disease requiring treatment. On the contrary, he gladly followed young charmers, and when income allowed, he arranged a real seraglio in his workshop. When the owner in sandals and an ancient Greek mantle on a naked body worked behind a canvas, they usually wandered around, lay and sat, eating fruit, three or four naked beauty models - an inexhaustible source of inspiration. From time to time he shouted to one of them “Freeze!” and sketched a pose that impressed him - there were several thousand such sketches left after Klimt, not counting those that he burned, considering them unnecessary.
Needless to say, the new Sultan was not limited to Platonic contemplation girlish beauty, and his models regularly produced children. Rumor attributed to Klimt a dozen illegitimate children, whom he, by the way, willingly recognized as his own and gave money for their maintenance. Gustav singled out a certain Mizzi, Maria Zimmerman, who gave birth to his son and daughter, - he patronized her all his life, helped not only with money, but also with good advice, having once dissuaded her from the seductive but dangerous career of an artist.
She was the daughter of the pipe manufacturer Hermann Flöge (1837-1897) and trained first as a dressmaker. She later became a fashion designer and, together with her sister Helena, owned a haute couture salon called the Flöge Sisters in Vienna from 1904.
Emilia's life is the focus of Elizabeth Hickey's book The Painted Kiss. The Painted Kiss) (reference to Klimt's painting "The Kiss") (Wikipedia)
In 1904, the three Flöge sisters founded a fashion house and became the leading couturiers in Vienna. Adapting Parisian fashions to local tastes and creating their own designs, the sisters dressed Austria's most elegant - and wealthy - women. Klimt contributed to Flöge's models and helped decorate the demonstration room.
Gradually, Emilia and Gustav became inseparable - at least in business. Many biographers and experts doubt that they had an affair. Emilia was proud of her modernity, in her personal life no one had an order for her, and Klimt, it seems, treated her as an equal person.
However, Klimt painted only a couple of portraits of Emilia. The canvas of 1902 deserves special attention. Paying tribute to the woman’s favorite work (she was a co-owner of the Sisters Flöge fashion house and a talented fashion designer), the artist dressed her in an outfit with a complex ornamental pattern in his “signature” style. But more important in this picture of Gustav Klimt is the care with which the face and hands of Emilia are written. The researchers believe that such fine detail suggests that he knew this face and hands thoroughly.
Biographers still cannot agree on the relationship between Klimt and Flöge. Some argue that she was his constant mistress, whom he never bothered to marry. Others are sure that their connection was exclusively platonic, and that is why Emilia did not give birth to a child to the artist. Be that as it may, the relationship between Klimt and Flöge lasted 27 years, and, according to eyewitnesses, the last words of the artist after the stroke that struck him was a request to send for Emilia.
Why humiliate a worthy woman with a fictitious intimacy with a sexual maniac who cheated on her almost every day? Only on the grounds that someone saw Emilia's face on the famous Klimt's "The Kiss"? So this is just one of the hypotheses, the heroine of “The Kiss” is not very similar to the reliable portraits of Emilia. But if Klimt had wished to portray Emilia, he would have done it without difficulty - with his photographic accuracy ... In addition, two people participate in the “Kiss”, and the man, of course, should be Klimt himself. But the artist officially stated in the press that his self-portraits do not exist, since he does not consider himself to be either suitable material for creativity, or an interesting enough object for the viewer.
Description of the painting by Gustav Klimt “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II”
"... Terribly tender and languid... Spiritual face... Smug and elegant", this excerpt from the phrase of Maria Altman, the niece of Adele Bloch-Bauer, who recalled her famous aunt with admiration and love, most successfully fits as an epigraph to the fourth - final work of Klimt, on which one of his peculiar "muses" is immortalized.
"Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II" was written by the master in 1912, five years after he created the "Golden Adele". The beauty of the heroine has not faded over the years, her dark hair and bright sensual lips are still attractive; their contrast with the pale tone of the canvas gives them a moderately dosed freshness. The look is just as confident, although a barely perceptible sadness was added to it. The “signature” Klimtian ornament looks harmonious. The master did not begin to create perspective depth, having decided to stop on the plane. Adele's dress is also depicted in the usual two-dimensional plane, this also applies to the interior, divided into two parts: red and green.
A significant part of the elements of the picture is made in a simplified form, and the image of the hands looks even schematic, but all the viewer’s attention is drawn to the face, which belongs to a spoiled woman, but so mysterious and “deep”.
Adele stands on the path of the garden, in her pose there is some resemblance to the icon painting. Husband Ferdinand, apparently satisfied with the execution of his "Jesuit" plan, according to which Klimt should have developed an aversion to the mistress model, is no longer opposed to his wife appearing in the painter's garden. There were many bad rumors in Vienna that mentioned this garden, where you could meet naked ladies of different classes. Also, the rumor claimed that Klimt painted pictures from naked models, and “dressed” them in ornamental clothes only at the very end of the work. Most likely, during this period of the relationship between the painter and Adele, their relationship was already far from the stormy passion that the previous canvases were saturated with.
The work, like its first version, left Austria in 2006 and is now in the United States.
No, you should not look for in the biography of Klimt “true and eternal love". He, like no one else, knew how to portray women as unspeakably desirable, but this does not mean at all that at least once in his life he was visited by an irrational feeling of falling in love. An absolute pragmatist at work and in everyday life, Klimt did not belong to the number of people consumed by passions. In addition, all his life he strove for complete freedom and, very possibly, consciously avoided any long-term attachments and deep hobbies - he had enough easily accessible models and frivolous admirers.
The only woman who enjoyed the unchanging devotion and love of Gustav throughout his life was his mother, Anna Klimt. She dreamed of professionally making music and traveling the world with concerts, but this was not destined to come true. It is not known what exactly caused it: either a lack of talent, or marriage and the birth of seven children. Be that as it may, in the end, Anna decided to devote her life entirely to her famous son. She did not go out with him and did not try to attribute some of Klimt's merits to herself, but simply lived quietly and imperceptibly in her son's house, caring only that he always had a hot dinner and clean clothes. The artist himself took this for granted, although he had no particular whims. Being carried away by work, he often forgot to eat, and preferred the traditional blue blouse of the artist to any other clothes. All the years she quietly and imperceptibly lived next to her famous son, preparing breakfast for him, collecting him on infrequent trips and pretending that she knew nothing about the mores of his workshop. Almost all my life Gustav Klimt spent in Vienna, living with his mother. Despite his strong physique and love of sports, he was increasingly overcome by depression, and since 1912 Klimt forced to go to the water every year. The death of his mother in 1915 shocked Klimt more than all the horrors of the world war.
On February 6, Gustav Klimt died in Vienna from pneumonia, having suffered a stroke before that. He was buried at the Hietzing Cemetery in Vienna. Many paintings were left unfinished.
In general, in the first years of our century, Klimt repeatedly comes into conflict with the public, which does not accept his works. In 1903, the Secession arranges personal exhibition Klimt, but after that the artist breaks with the association, which indicates his disagreements with his colleagues.
Nevertheless, although Klimt was not an even artist and was not always understood by his contemporaries, he had a great influence on the development of Austrian art at the beginning of the 20th century. Klimt was the first to introduce the notion of grand style into Austrian painting.
By the end of his life in 1917, Klimt won full official recognition, becoming an honorary professor at the Vienna and Munich academies.
Acutely inherent in him individual style drawing became the ground for the search for younger artists, future representatives of expressionism - Oskar Kokoschka and Egon Schiele.
The wide recognition of the artist's work is evidenced by the fact that during his lifetime his works were bought not only by private collectors, but also by large state galleries. So, in 1908, the Gallery of Modern Art in Rome bought his work "Three Ages of a Woman", and the Austrian State Gallery - "The Kiss". True, until that time he managed to quarrel with the participants of the Secession and left this organization. On February 6, 1918, the artist died at the zenith of his fame - a rarity in the history of painting.
Klimt's works were sold with enduring success even after the death of the author, constantly increasing in price. During the Second World War, the Nazis bought the artist's canvases for nothing from private owners, many of whom were Jews. Saving their lives, collectors did not hesitate to part with their belongings. By the middle of the twentieth century, the iconic paintings of the Austrian settled in state galleries. The auctions were mostly drawings.
In the early 1970s, a Klimt landscape could be purchased for $400,000-600,000. In 1978, the New York dealer Serge Sabarsky bought the work of the master "Park" for $500,000. Portraits that occasionally hit the market were valued at that time up to $1 million A decade later, prices for similar works have increased by almost 4 times. For example, in 1987, a Canadian resident, Ms. Primavesi, auctioned off Sotheby’s magnificent portrait own mother by Gustav Klimt - "Portrait of Eugenia (Mada) Primavesi". It is noteworthy that the canvas belonged to the most famous so-called golden period of the master. Japanese art dealer Shigeki Kameyama got it for only $3.85 million. But in 1994, the painting Lady with a Fan from the same period was sold at Sotheby's for $11.5 million. Lake Attersee II" went under the hammer at Christie's for $23.5 million. The seller, who bought this painting ten years earlier at Sotheby's for $5.3 million, earned $18.2 million. In 2003, "Country House in the Attersee" was sold to Sotheby's for $ 29.128 million. Just three years later, prices for Klimt's works of the same level and the same period rose again. After court scandal(we will talk about it below) "Houses in Unterach near Attersee" will be sold at Christie's for $ 31.4 million. Not only finished canvases and pencil sketches were sold at auctions, but even watercolor postcards written by Klimt himself. Yes, in October 1999. At Sotheby`s, an unknown buyer bought a set of 24 postcards for $481.4 thousand.
For the global art market, 2003 was marked by a sensation. The American court, after long delays, accepted the application of the US citizen Maria Altman against the Republic of Austria. The 76-year-old plaintiff demanded that five paintings by Gustav Klimt, stored in the Austrian Gallery, located in the Belvedere Palace in Vienna, be handed over to her. Ms. Altmann, heiress of the late Austrian industrialist Bloch-Bauer, claimed that the paintings were illegally taken from her ancestor by the Nazis, from whose hands they ended up in the gallery. The lawsuit was based on the Austrian law on restitution in new edition. It is possible that the elderly lady was advised to do so by professionals. “It is likely that this was not only her personal decision. I admit that Maria Altman was advised to enter into a lawsuit for the canvases by people who intended to make good money on it, ”says the owner of the Bosco gallery. Indeed, the global art market has been experiencing a shortage of iconic paintings by great artists for many years. And provoking restorative lawsuits is one of the few effective ways to make up for this shortcoming. One way or another, the event received unprecedented publicity due to the fact that among the controversial paintings there was a pearl not only Austrian gallery and Klimt's work, but also the whole modernity - the painting "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I", painted in 1907. The Austrians called her their Mona Lisa.
Immortalized on canvas, Adele was the young wife of an elderly businessman and philanthropist Bloch-Bauer, long years financially supported Klimt. It was he who at one time acted as the customer for the portrait. By the way, Frau Bloch-Bauer went down in history also as the only model from whom Gustav Klimt painted a portrait twice.
It seemed that the application of Maria Altman had very vague judicial prospects. Especially if you take into account the advanced age of the plaintiff. But the more sensational in 2006 was the court decision in her favor. Panic broke out in Austria. Members of the government rushed about in search of patrons who were willing to buy five paintings from the heiress, then bankers who were willing to give a loan for this enterprise, and finally made an unsuccessful attempt to issue “Klimt bonds” in order to raise the required amount. And the new mistress, meanwhile, filled the price of the goods: $100 million, $150 million, $200 million ... When the old woman asked for $300 million for the paintings, the Austrians dropped their hands. In the winter of 2006, the Federal Chancellor of Austria officially announced the termination of negotiations and the refusal of the state from the priority right to buy. And already in the summer of the same year, a new sensation broke out: “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” was bought by philanthropist Ronald Lauder, heir to the famous Estee Lauder, founder of the cosmetics empire of the same name, for a record $135 million. Thus, this painting became at that time the most expensive in the world , breaking the $104 million record set in 2004 at Sotheby's for Pablo Picasso's Boy with a Pipe. An indispensable condition for the purchase was that Lauder undertook to exhibit the portrait in his own New York gallery Neue Galerie for the public to see. The deal was concluded without going through the auctioneers, which allowed the businessman to save up to 20% of its value on commissions. By the way, this way of replenishing collections is chosen by many collectors. According to the European Foundation for the Fine Arts (TEFAF), the volume of the global private art market in 2007 amounted to $30 billion.
The fate of the other four Belvedere paintings also deserves attention. The hype around the first portrait of Adele did its job: the heated auction public was ready to part with millions without regrets. In 2006, four canvases from the Belvedere went under the hammer at Christie's for $192.6. The Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II fetched $87.9 million (estimated at $40-60 million). For "Birch Forest" - $40.3 million (estimate - 20-30 million), "Yablonya I" went for $33 million (estimate - $15-25 million), and "Houses in Unterach near Attersee", as already mentioned, - for $31.4 million (estimate - $18-25 million). Ms. Altman then modestly admitted to the press that she was satisfied with the results of the deal. And Edward Dolman, chief executive of Christie's International, confirmed: "2006 has been a phenomenal year for Christie's." It was in 2006 that home sales grew by 36% in monetary terms. Only the proceeds from the sale of the Impressionists and Modernists exceeded $1.2 billion. The history of the sale of the "Golden Adele" radically influenced the sharp rise in the price of all Klimt's works put up for sale. Moreover, some experts assess this impact negatively. Thus, the American art historian Elizabeth Kuzhavsky notes: “This is an artificial market created by a single person. In all cases of recent sales of Klimt, the prices for his works were unreasonably inflated at least twice. It's all the fault, mainly, "Golden Adele". In response, Lauder half-jokingly, half-seriously replies: “I had no intention of shaping the market in any way. I just got the passion. No one in the whole world wanted her (“Golden Adele.” - Approx. Aut.) The way I did "
In 2006, the Hollywood film "Klimt" was released. The picture begins with the fact that the artist, played by John Malkovich, who is dying in the clinic, mutters: "Flowers, flowers ...". "What kind of flowers?" - everyone in the ward looks around in confusion ... At a press conference, director Raul Ruiz was asked if this was a hint at the symbol of that era - Charles Baudelaire's "Flowers of Evil"? In response, Ruiz laughed: “Flowers are the same cells, the division of which in one of the episodes is shown to the artist under a microscope by his friend, a doctor, the syphilis cells that killed Klimt”
Reference:
Modern style(from French moderne - modern, another name: art nouveau (fr. art nouveau, lit. "new art"), Jugendstil (German Jugendstil - "young style") - an artistic direction in art, the most popular in the second half XIX - early XX century Distinctive features of the Art Nouveau style are the rejection of straight lines and angles in favor of more natural, "natural" lines, interest in new technologies (for example, in architecture), the flourishing of applied art.
Art Nouveau strove to combine the artistic and utilitarian functions of the created works, to involve all spheres of human activity in the sphere of beauty. In other countries it is also called: “tiffany” (named after L.K. Tiffany) in the USA, “art nouveau” and “fin de siècle” (lit. “end of the century”) in France, “art nouveau” (more precisely, “ Jugendstil" - German Jugendstil, after the name of the illustrated magazine Die Jugend founded in 1896) in Germany, "Secession style" (Secessionsstil) in Austria, "modern style" (modern style, lit. "modern style") in England, " Liberty style" in Italy, "modernismo" in Spain, "Nieuwe Kunst" in the Netherlands, "spruce style" (style sapin) in Switzerland.
One of the most famous painters of the past is Gustav Klimt, whose paintings are in great demand today. Unfortunately, there are not so many of his works, and all of them have long found their place in the best collections in the world. But when a miracle happens, and his paintings are put up for auction, their cost is fabulous.
the beginning of time
The man whose name is familiar to every intellectual today was born near the Austrian capital, in the town of Baumgarten. Gustav, who was born on July 14, 1862, was the second child. His father was an engraver and jeweler, so he gave all his many children the first lessons in craftsmanship. The family lived in poverty, but at the age of fourteen the young talent enters the arts and crafts school. There, Gustav Klimt, whose paintings amaze everyone without exception, studied with such luminaries as Ferdinand Laufberger and Julius Viktor Berger. A few years later he entered the same institution and younger brother artist - Ernst. Together they painted portraits of noble citizens from photographs and sold for six guilders. This was their first independent earnings.
First steps in art
In 1879, the artist Gustav Klimt, his brother and Franz von Mach decorate the courtyard of the Vienna Museum of Art History, after which they receive their first serious commission. From the palace of Stureny ("Four Allegories") and the baths in Karlsbad, a special style emerges that will distinguish the paintings of Gustav Klimt from the works of other painters. Therefore, the trio of artists stop working together, and they each go on their own voyage through life.
Finding Your Own Style
The artist Klimt almost immediately received recognition from the demanding public. From the hands of Emperor Franz Joseph, he receives the Golden Cross for services in art after the completion of work in the Burgtheater. Therefore, the master is sent on a journey through the Old World, during which he visits Munich and Venice. This trip gave him a lot of impressions and inspiration for further work.
Having finished painting the main staircase of the Moscow Museum of the History of Art, Gustav departs from the academic manner of drawing. His special manner of performance has already acquired its finished form. In subsequent years, the artist Gustav Klimt, whose paintings every collector dreams of owning, becomes a member of the Union of Fine Arts. But in 1892 they are waiting for him heavy losses: first the father dies, and then the brother Ernst. In 1894, Klimt, together with his longtime partner Franz Match, decorated the University of Vienna, before Gustav worked on the halls of the Hungarian Esterhazy castle.
Recognition in life
Work on the interiors of the premises, in particular the execution of allegorical images, three faculties "Philosophy", "Jurisprudence" and "Medicine" prompted the artist to draw canvases. He founds the "Secession" in Vienna and becomes its president, writes his first landscapes, is fond of expressionism. The paintings of Gustav Klimt of that period are distinguished by their love for mosaics and ornamental forms. This distinguishing feature works of the master in the future.
Gustav Klimt, whose paintings were awarded a gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris (painting "Philosophy"), creates Beethoven frescoes. This work of his, completed in 1902, was actively discussed by the public, and Rodin admired it. The master goes on a trip to Italy, becomes in demand, they listen to him. In 1908, the artist organized his own exhibition, where he presented sixteen paintings. Two of them were immediately acquired by reputable institutions - the Gallery of Modern Art in Rome and the Austrian State Gallery.
In Paris, which Klimt visited in 1909, he got acquainted with the work of Toulouse Lautrec, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Matisse, Munch, Bonnart. A year later, he takes part in the ninth painting "Death and Life", which was highly appreciated at the 1911 World Exhibition in Rome. After her, the artist again goes on a trip to Europe.
The last years of the life of the great painter
Despite the love of the public, the work of Gustav Klimt was criticized by the expressionists. After the death of his mother in 1915, the artist increasingly chooses dark colors palettes. He continues to take part in the most prestigious exhibitions in the world, becomes an honorary member of the Academy of Arts in Munich and Vienna, writes masterpiece paintings. The artist dies from a heart attack on February 6, 1918, leaving a large number of unfinished work. After him, other great painters of that time also die.
"Kiss" by Gustav Klimt - the most famous painting of the artist
This work is rightfully considered one of the best among the master's legacy. It was created in 1907 and immediately after the presentation was bought by the government of Austria-Hungary. Emotional, dazzlingly bright "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt is recognized as the most expressively in the history of twentieth-century painting. What is special about her?
On the canvas there are various types of patterns: scatterings of variegated flowers, running curls, a checkerboard motif of black, white and green rectangles, ribbon arabesques, twisting spirals. Abstraction of fragments of naturalistically interpreted figures, bizarre ornaments looks simply luxurious on a golden background. The couple, which is depicted in the center, embraced and merged in a passionate kiss. Mosaic clothes of lovers only enhance the effect of passion created by the master with the help of decorative details and their deep contrast with naturalistic elements. The girl's face, arms and legs are very realistically painted. But parts of the body are surrounded, and in some places completely covered, by planes with an abstract motif that matches the colors on the ground and the texture of the fabric.
The painting has the artist's favorite format - square. Gustav ignores the horizon and the depth of space, pushes reality and current time into the background. Thus, the kiss of a young man and girl in love acquires a universal scale.
Symbolism of the Kiss
Gustav Klimt, whose paintings always have a semantic meaning, also used symbolism in The Kiss. So, at first glance, the rectangles depicted on the clothes of a man have only a decorative value. But these are phallic symbols that personify the masculine principle. They merge with the feminine, encrypted in the motif on the woman's attire. These are spirals, circles and ovals, which can be considered artistic signs of the female genitalia. This union is harmonious and energetic, generates life and continues it.
The canvas "Kiss" is absolutely unusual and outrageous. Like all previous works, it had its fans and fierce opponents. But still, it is it that marks the highest point of the so-called golden period of the artist's work. The picture became the emblem of the Vienna Secession, bewitching with a golden glow, dimmed eroticism (after all, only the hands, feet and faces of the characters appeared open to the eye), obvious chastity.
Cherchez la femme, or Look for a woman
Gustav Klimt's favorite motif was women and their bodies. He liked to paint scenes from mythology, biblical characters, Olympian goddesses, nymphs and ordinary girls who became unearthly. Surrounded by golden light (many works of the genius had just such a chic background), they seemed to be the ideal of beauty, beautiful and seductive at the same time. As a true artist, he idolized the fair sex, its divine awe, sensuality, mysticism and femininity.
On his canvases, he painted naked women and only then dressed up their bodies in fabulous precious clothes. The mysterious shimmer of precious stones, flowing hair, the glow of silky skin and the thinnest gossamer dress created temptation, covering a half-naked body.
Fatal ladies of genius
The artist of the turn of the century absorbed all the conflicting opinions of that era. He was looking for an ideal and contemporary woman and depicted in his paintings. He painted not only real people, which, for example, was Sonya Knips, whose portrait simultaneously expresses lightness, innocence, anxiety and thoughtfulness. Each lady depicted by Gustav is fatal. In the painting “Love”, the heroine’s face froze in sweet ecstasy, but on background shadows thicken. After all, old age and death await the young man and girl. A striking example of such beauties are the following paintings: "Mermaid", "Goldfish", both versions of "Judith", "Water snakes". The work “Three Ages of a Woman”, which depicts a little girl, a woman in the prime of life and beauty, as well as an old woman, is also filled with deep philosophy.
It is interesting that the master was not married, although he had numerous novels. Perhaps he never found his ideal ...
Klimt Gustav is a famous Austrian painter. One of the most prominent representatives modern style. Born on the outskirts of Vienna in the family of an engraver. Graduated Viennese School decorative arts. The early works of the artist consisted mainly of large frescoes for theaters and were painted in a naturalistic style. In the paintings depicting allegorical figures, executed by Klimt in 1890-1891 on the vaults of the great staircase of the Museum of Art History in Vienna, for the first time the features that became the main ones in his work appear - a clear silhouette and a penchant for ornamentalism. After 1898, the work of Gustav Klimt takes on a more decorative, symbolic aspect.
Gustav Klimt was the leader of the Viennese avant-garde at the turn of the century. Being primarily a decorative artist, Klimt led the Viennese society of innovative artists "Secession" - a protest movement against the aesthetic conservatism and moralizing of the previous generation. Klimt's best paintings are considered to be the artist's later portraits, with their flat, unshaded surfaces, transparent, mosaic-like colors and shapes, and sinuous, ornate lines and patterns. Klimt's paintings combine two opposing forces; on the one hand, it is a thirst for absolute freedom in depicting objects, which leads to a play of ornamental forms. These paintings of the painter are in fact symbolic and should be considered in the context of symbolism as an expression of an unattainable world standing above time and reality. On the other hand, it is the power of perception of nature and nature, the influence of which softens the splendor of ornamentality in the paintings of Gustav Klimt. Among the most admirable works of the artist are a panel for the "Burgtheater" in Vienna (1888), a series of mosaic frescoes in the Pallas Stoclet, a rich private mansion in Brussels. By the end of his life in 1917, Klimt won full official recognition, becoming an honorary professor at the Vienna and Munich Academies of Fine Arts.
Painting by Gustav Klimt "The Kiss". On the flower field, from the ornament and abstract forms, the silhouette of a kissing couple grows. The color of the picture is dominated by a golden tone interspersed with bright spots of wild flowers and a rich pattern of clothes. Erotic character give the stage sensual lines, lush ornamentation and spicy flavor - a symbol of luxury and decadence. This style is often referred to as Art Nouveau. Klimt painted a large number of portraits, mostly of women, as well as mythological and allegorical compositions. Sketches of applied arts and mosaics by Gustav Klimt were a huge success, but the wall paintings created by the artist for the University of Vienna caused a scandal and were considered “pornographic” by art critics of the early twentieth century. Gustav Klimt died in 1918.
Secession (German: Sezession, from Latin secessio - departure, separation), the name of associations of artists in Munich, Vienna, Berlin, who rejected academic doctrines and acted as forerunners of the Art Nouveau style. The Vienna Secession arose in 1897 and united the artists of the Austrian Art Nouveau - "Secession style" (Sezessionsstil) - around the magazine "Ver Sacrum" (Ver Sacrum), founded in 1898. The magazine was also an organ of Austrian literary symbolism (Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Rainer Maria Rilke). The association was led by the painter Gustav Klimt. The characteristic features of this style for painting were mosaic multicolor and sophisticated ornamentation, for graphics - the geometric clarity of the pattern with its general free decorativeness, for architecture - the rhythmic ordering of divisions, the laconicism of the decor, the rationality of compositional and constructive solutions. The masters of this style (Josef Maria Olbrich, Otto Wagner, Josef Hofmann, Karl Moser and other artists) were distinguished by their gravitation towards rectilinear ornamentation, which retained geometric rigidity even in the most complex combinations. In this regard, the “secession style” is sometimes called the “square style” (Quadratstill).
