 Klimt,
Gustav (1862-1918)
was a Viennese painter and the founder of the Vienna Secession,
the Austrian Art Nouveau movement. His early work, consisting
principally of large murals for theaters, was painted
in an unremarkable naturalistic style. After 1898, Klimt's
work moved toward greater innovation and imagination,
taking on a more decorative, symbolic aspect. He continued
to paint murals, but the harsh public criticism of the
three murals Philosophy, Medicine, and Jurisprudence (1900-1902,
Vienna University; destroyed 1945) led him to concentrate
on panel painting. Klimt's best-known works are his later
portraits, such as Frau Fritsa Reidler (1906, Österreichische
Galerie, Vienna), with their flat, unshadowed surfaces,
translucent, mosaic colors and forms, and sinuous, curling
background lines and patterns. Among his most admired
works is the series of mosaic murals (1905-1909) in the
Palais Stoclet, an opulent private mansion in Brussels
designed by the architect Josef Hoffmann, who was also
a member of the Vienna Secession movement. |
