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.
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 young talent enters an arts and crafts school. There, Gustav Klimt, whose paintings amaze everyone without exception, studied with such luminaries as Ferdinand Laufberger and Julius Victor Berger. A few years later, the artist's younger brother, Ernst, entered the same institution. 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 fine arts". But in 1892, heavy losses await him: first his father dies, and then his 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 execution allegorical images, three faculties "Philosophy", "Jurisprudence" and "Medicine" pushed 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 is a distinctive feature of the master's work in the future.
Gustav Klimt, whose paintings were awarded a gold medal at 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 into 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 a girl in love acquires a universal scale.
Symbolism of the Kiss
Gustav Klimt, whose paintings always have semantic load, and used symbolism in The Kiss. So, at first glance, the rectangles depicted on the clothes of a man have only 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 work, 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 prime example such beauties are the following paintings: "Mermaid", " gold fish”, 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 ...
Gustav Klimt (1862 - 1918) - Austrian painter. Gustav Klimt is one of the most prominent representatives modern style.
BIOGRAPHY OF GUSTAV KLIMT
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 Grand Staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum 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 ornamentation in the paintings of Gustav Klimt.
THE CREATIVITY 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 coloring 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. Item sketches 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 art critics early twentieth century "pornographic". 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 artists 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. Characteristic features this style for painting was 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, conciseness of decor, 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).
One hundred and thirty-five million dollars was 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 an interpreted form of the most famous paintings by Gustav Klimt: "Kiss", "Hug", "Three Ages of a Woman", "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" , "Water Serpents I", "Water Serpents II", "Danae".
Three Ages of Woman Water Snakes 
Danae
Gustav Klimt is an Austrian painter, a world-renowned master of depicting the female body. At one time, the artist received notoriety works "impregnated" with undisguised eroticism.
For the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, paintings of such frank content seemed too bold and shocked art connoisseurs who were accustomed to the works of masters. classical school. But outrageousness did not become an obstacle to fame, which Klimt was favored 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 fabulous money.
Childhood and youth
By nationality, Gustav Klimt is an Austrian, 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 in art - she dreamed of becoming a musician. The plans were interrupted by a large family: Gustav - the second oldest of the seven offspring of Klimts, 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. Penzing is famous picturesque nature, because it is located on a spur of the Eastern Alps, and one third of the area is covered by the Vienna Woods.
The work of his father, a gold engraver, did not bring 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. The sons became artists, the daughters made a career 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 arts and crafts school in Vienna. A year later in educational institution, which operated at the Austrian Museum, Gustav's brother, Ernst, also entered.
Klimt chose to specialize in architectural painting. The idol of the young man during his studies turned out to be Hans Makart, who worked in the historical genre. Surprisingly, in student years future star Modernism differed from its progressive comrades in that it respected the conservative ambush of academic education.
Painting
In the early 1880s, the brothers Gustav and Ernst, together with their friend Franz Macz, painted the theaters of 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 trinity, Gustav Klimt, the Golden Cross. The imperial award, received at the age of 26, opened the way 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. 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 the framework academic painting, surprising and shocking society with too bold works.
The first works of Klimt, which brought him scandalous fame, were design. In 1894, he received an order for 3 paintings for the ceiling of the assembly hall of the University of Vienna, which he finished 6 years later. The presentation of the paintings "Philosophy", "Medicine" and "Jurisprudence" to society turned into a scandal.
Outraged conservative citizens called the work pornography and called for the painter to be imprisoned. Gustav Klimt did not take government orders anymore, but he did not give up painting female nudes. At the same time, eroticism and sensuality in his canvases did not cross the fine line, beyond which they would turn into vulgarity and vulgarity.
The end of the 1890s is called the "golden period" in the work of the Art Nouveau master. For the works of this time, Klimt used gold leaf, the paintings of the late 1890s are the most expensive and famous. The famous "Kiss" - bright pattern Art Nouveau, reminiscent of the beauty of the Venetian mosaic. The image of the painting is often used to decorate champagne glasses.
In 1899, Gustav Klimt again caused a shock by presenting to the public a canvas called "Naked Truth". The symbolic naked red-haired girl with a mirror in her hand personified this very “ naked truth". The painter responded to a flurry of criticism, as expected from a brilliant brawler, new painting with the same outrageous "character". Called "Goldfish", she showed the public the "fifth point" of the same beauty with fiery hair and magnificent forms.
Gustav Klimt was a darling of fate. He was extolled during his lifetime. fashion master bombarded with orders, which were generously paid. He could choose topics and plots that seemed interesting. But everywhere obligatory element were female bodies and undisguised eroticism.
by the most famous paintings The “golden period” of the Austrian Art Nouveau guru is called, in addition to “The Kiss” and “Nude Truth”, the canvases “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer”, “Water Snakes”, “Hope”, “Three Ages of a Woman” and “Tree of Love”. The last work - a fresco, painted in 1905-1909, can be seen in the Brussels Stoclet Palace. The fresco has other names - "Tree of Knowledge" and "Tree of Life".
The legacy of Gustav Klimt is also landscapes painted in his "signature" style of painting. For them, the master took square canvases, believing that such a 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
The temperament of the modernist was legendary. Klimt's contemporaries whispered that Gustav had connections with almost every model. The master is credited with paternity of 14 to 40 children born to ladies who ordered portraits, models and simply "priestesses of love", to whom he paid money. They say that young ladies of noble families lined up and were ready for a lot, just to get a precious portrait by Gustav Klimt himself.
In fairness, 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 dubious when Klimt's biographers talk about shameful, but very common in late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century, a disease suffered by the artist. Gustav was awarded syphilis by a girl of easy virtue. The fact is played up in art picture"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, was Emilia Flöge, a talented fashion designer and owner of a fashion house. He asked her to call when he was dying. Their relationship lasted 27 years, but never ended in marriage and offspring.
Connoisseurs of Klimt's work noticed that the master liked two types of women that he painted all his life. These are lush red-haired beauties (such is “Danae”) and brunettes with delicate features and figures of boys (“Adel Bloch-Bauer”).
Death
The famous Austrian painter died 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 final resting place was the Hitzing Cemetery in Vienna. Gustav Klimt left dozens of paintings he started unfinished.
Russian connoisseurs of art nouveau in October 2017 had a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the work of Gustav Klimt. Exhibition graphic works two well-known representatives Art Nouveau - Gustav Klimt and - took place at the Pushkin Museum im. .
Artworks
- 1899-1907 - "Philosophy"
- 1899-1907 - "Medicine"
- 1899-1907 - "Jurisprudence"
- 1901-1902 - "Goldfish"
- 1903 - "Birch Grove"
- 1903 - "Hope"
- 1904-1907 - "Water Serpents"
- 1905 - "Three Ages of a Woman"
- 1905-1909 - "The Tree of Love"
- 1906 - "Adel Bloch-Bauer"
- 1907–08 - The Kiss
- 1907-1908 - "Danae"
- 1912 - "Apple Tree I"
- 1913 - "Innocence"
- 1917 - "Adam and Eve"
Gallery of paintings by Gustav Klimt
(German Gustav Klimt, July 14, 1862, Baumgarten - February 6, 1918, Vienna) - Austrian artist. Gustav Klimt is one of the most prominent representatives of the Art Nouveau style.
Gustav Klimt painted symbolic compositions, portraits, and landscapes in the Art Nouveau style, subordinating planar images to a sophisticated ornamental rhythm, a fractional pattern of small color spots. 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. Gustav Klimt's best work is his 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 ornamentality in his paintings.
Kiss
Music
Portrait of the pianist Josef Pembauer
Lady in a hat and feather boa
The auditorium of the old Burgtheater in Vienna
"Beethoven Frieze". Fragment
Love
Athena Pallas
Judith
Two girls with oleander
Music
Flow
Nuda Veritas
Three ages of woman
Article by K. Bohemskaya in the book "Art Calendar 100 anniversaries", M., 1987 .
Gustav Klimt is an Austrian artist, one of those whose work determined the artistic climate of Vienna at the turn of the century.
He was the son of the engraver Ernst Klimt, in his youth he attended a school of applied arts. In his youth, he was influenced by the pompous style history painting Hans Makart. But Klimt himself was distinguished above all by a penchant for decorativeness. Already in his early works, the bright brilliance borrowed from Makart is combined with ornamentality. He is also interested in portraiture. In 1888
he made a watercolor "Interior view of the old theater from the stage", where he placed 131 small portrait images. Klimt painted theatrical scenery, made illustrations for books, together with his brother and other artists created a cycle of murals in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
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 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, fell in love with Klimt, whose works largely echo the works of these artists.
In 1897, the Vienna art society"Secession", the first chairman of which, permanent on long years becomes Gustav Klimt. Such societies then arose in many European capitals, they contributed to the exchange of exhibitions between artists different countries, update artistic language. They opposed the official policy in the field of art and the personal tastes of patrons and generally contributed to the democratization of artistic culture.
The Vienna Secession organized several exhibitions a year, inviting artists, representatives of new art movements: in 1900, works by the Scottish architect C. R. Mackintosh and the Glasgow school were shown here, in 1902 - a sculpture of Beethoven Max Klinger, for the environment of which Klimt made a special frieze, in the same year - the art of the French impressionists and post-impressionists, the works of O. Beardsley, D. Whistler were also exhibited here.
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.
If in the paintings and wall paintings of Klimt you can find a lot of “quotes * from the work of other artists, the eclectic origins of his style, the pompous and excessive stylization of the artistic language are striking, then in the drawings, where the artist briefly recorded impressions about? 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 artistic personality had such a huge influence in Vienna at the turn of the convicts. 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 to each other. 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 skeleton and some monsters, reminiscent of the continuation human life passes under the sign of death.
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 Stoklet Palace itself in terms of architecture - typical work Art Nouveau, and the Klimt frieze matches the style of the building. On Klimt great impression produced 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 consists 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.
If the frieze in the Stoklet Palace was appropriate and combined with the architecture and taste of the customer, then the decorative panels made by Klimt for the assembly hall of the University of Vienna caused dissatisfaction and were never placed in the place for which they were intended. The themes of the panel are “Jurisprudence*”, “Philosophy” and “Medicine”. The panel "Medicine" depicted different phases of human life, there were figures of a mother with a child, and a pregnant woman, reminiscent of the painting "Hope", I am an old woman, copied from one of Rodin's sculptures. The combination of the naturalism of the image with a complex speculative scheme determined the dominance of the plot and the idea over the artistry of the work. This was the reason for the failure of Klimt's plan.
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. 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.
Modern style(from French moderne - modern, another name: art nouveau (fr. art nouveau, lit. "new art"), Jugendstil (German Jugendstil - "young style") - artistic direction in art, most popular in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. Distinctive features modern style is 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.
In 2015, The Woman in Gold directed by Simon Curtis premiered with Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds in leading role, which tells the story of Maria Altmann, who is trying to return to the 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 unravel 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. There were seven children in the family: 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 he enters the Vienna Art and Craft School 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 of that time, Klimt agrees with the canons of academic painting and does not oppose the principles of conservative academic drawing.
Gustav, his brother Ernst and their friend Franz Match worked together since 1880 - they decorated theaters and museums with frescoes. In 1888, Gustav Klimt was awarded the "Golden Cross" - it was presented to him by Emperor Franz Joseph for 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 is changing, his own style begins to develop. In 1897, Klimt headed the Secession - artistic association innovators, created as a counterweight to conservative representatives of art. Gustav Klimt is the founder of Art Nouveau in Austrian painting. In his works, you can often find a clear silhouette and ornamentalism. . Generally, 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 CEO 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 her. This painting is considered one of the most significant works of the artist.
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, in which the painting ended up after the war, refused to return it to its owners. But after judicial trial this and several other paintings by the artist were returned to Maria Altmann, niece of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, in 2006.
Judith with the head of Holofernes
Judith is a heroic image of a young woman who saved her Jewish people from Assyrian captivity by cutting off the head of the enemy commander Holofernes.
The story of Judith has inspired many artists in the history of world art. Klimt also presented Judith as a seductress, bold and desperate. Here she is the fatal winner. The girl comes out of the tent of Holofernes, still half-naked, in her hands she carries the head of the enemy. Despite her haughty look, Klimt's heroine remains fragile and feminine.
The portrait was created in 1901. The model was his beloved Adele Bloch-Bauer, daughter of the general director of the Vienna Banking Union. Although Klimt did not advertise the fact of her posing.
The work caused controversy. Judith was not happy in marriage, and the victory over Holofernes became a kind of challenge to everything male society. No wonder Klimt portrayed her deliberately sensual, in golden tones, which means a symbol of triumph.
Three Ages of Woman (1905)
In the painting, Klimt depicted the cycle 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 historians 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 possess her, shed golden rain, after which Danae gave birth to Perseus. Klimt discards all the details and captures exactly the moment of love between Zeus and Danae. Despite the fact that many of the artist’s paintings are characterized by an erotic motif, Danae is the most explicit of his works.
Lady with a Fan (1917-1918)
Creating the image of an oriental woman in this picture, Gustav Klimt did not depict any particular woman, here the image is a collective one. Grace and elegance served as models for the picture.
Lady with Hat and Boa (1909)
Despite the fact that we see only part of the lady's face, almost just one glance, the artist was able to convey in it all the strength of her character. Despite the fact that her body is completely closed, the picture is not without eroticism: it, again, conveys 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 utterly modest. But this is only at first glance: taking a closer look at her face, we see a restrained sensuality: a half-open mouth, a blush. Yes, and the chair on which she sits is decorated with "peacock eyes" - symbols with sexual overtones.
Hope I (1903)
Germa worked as a model to support her family. After Germa became pregnant, she wanted to leave her job, but Klimt could not allow one of her favorite models to leave. It turned out to be a very touching portrait: despite the deep look of the future mother, expressing calm, in the background we can see frightening grimaces that can be deciphered as threats and fears for the child.
Maiden (1913)
Klimt's "Maiden" is the story of the transformation of a girl into a woman. main character the picture is sleeping peacefully, her expression is also serene, immaculate, you can see the nightgown. And at this time, more sophisticated and sensual women penetrate into her dream, which heroine has yet to become. But this world has already got very close to the girl, enveloped her.
The Girl with the 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 beautifully with the color of the hair. They are the main decoration of the girl. In spite of open body, the picture turned out to be moderately seasoned, not frankly erotic. There is an assumption that the model was Germa, familiar to us from the painting "Hope I".
Text: Anna Simonaeva, Sofia Zubareva
