Gustav Klimt

#ArtSaturday Gustav Klimt 1962-1918
Austrian painter

Klimt, 1887 pic.twitter.com/KflvL7X4Ab

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Klimt was the second of 7 children, and he and all his brothers displayed artistic talent from an early age.

Love, 1895 pic.twitter.com/yYm2suB2Oa

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Klimt's father was from Bohemia, and he was a gold engraver.

Music, 1895 pic.twitter.com/v7g93U9iXC

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Work for immigrants was scarce, so Klimt spent most of his early years in poverty.

Sappho, 1898-90 pic.twitter.com/SPV5x3vBne

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
1890s: Klimt began taking many of his annual summer holidays with the Flöge family at Lake Atter (Attersee, also Kammersee).

Schubert at the Piano, 1899 (destroyed 1945) pic.twitter.com/tHUFm7OKuY

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Landscape paintings were important to Klimt.

Tranquil Pond, 1899 pic.twitter.com/cWs4rhgzZf

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Aside from the human figure, landscapes are the only thing that seriously interest Klimt as subjects for painting.

Farm Garden with Sunflowers, 1907 pic.twitter.com/TBfjzxPz2Q

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
The space in his landscapes is so "flattened," it is believed that Klimt painted while viewing his subjects through a telescope.

The Sunflowers, 1907 pic.twitter.com/Pq4YA0wvZZ

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
1894: Klimt was commissioned to do three paintings for the Great Hall at the University of Vienna: his work was criticized for being too radical and the nudes were considered pornographic.

Medicine (detail)
(of trio Medicine, Jurisprudence, Philosophy) pic.twitter.com/zB4ap1wB1V

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
The paintings Klimt did for the Great Hall were never displayed due to public outcry. All three were destroyed by the SS in 1945.

Blind Man, 1896 pic.twitter.com/7JHKG3sYKs

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Klimt is most known for his portrayal of the female body.

Judith and the Head of Holofernes, 1901 pic.twitter.com/Hh5D1xKcOf

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Klimt was strongly influenced by Japanese art, especially by prints.

Watersnakes I, 1904 pic.twitter.com/4dONzdFkH7

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
In the early 1890s, Klimt became involved with Emilie Flöge, with whose family he spent the summers at the lake.

Emilie Flöge, 1902 pic.twitter.com/lTUtIVYbwj

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Some critics insist that Klimt's relationship with Emilie was not sexual. She was his companion for the rest of their lives (despite his fathering 14 children with other women).

Emilie Flöge, detail pic.twitter.com/JpKkfFs5RF

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Goldfish caused such an outcry from his critics, that Klimt considered renaming the painting "To My Critics."

1901 pic.twitter.com/31Dh4hcXpM

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Klimt's work is characterized by colored decoration.

Three Ages of Woman, 1905 pic.twitter.com/Q8wuEkABct

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt

Mother and Child, 1905 (from Three Ages of Woman, painted again separately) pic.twitter.com/zQT1CxWdRk

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Critics see a "phallic design" in many of Klimt's paintings, with the "hidden" phallic design "concealing the more erotic positions" of the figures.

The Embrace, 1905 pic.twitter.com/tQm6t9h6yU

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
(Male) critics insist that Klimt's women are "dangerous" and are "femme fatales."

Danae, 1906 pic.twitter.com/71RpdaVbqc

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Klimt's "Golden Phase" saw him putting gold leaf on his paintings.

Pallas Athene, 1895 pic.twitter.com/CaM82jBjzo

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Pallas Athene (1895) and Judith I (1901) are from his early Golden Phase works. pic.twitter.com/eSZRysMdNR

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
The Kiss (1907-08) is one of Klimt's most famous Golden Phase works. pic.twitter.com/mqGj0n0SgB

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer (1907) is the other most famous Golden Phase work. In 2006, it sold at auction for a record $135M. pic.twitter.com/EzjD0Y2K0V

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Klimt avoided the society of other artists: he was devoted to his art and to his family.

The Tree of Life, 1905-1908 pic.twitter.com/SHZMMkNTes

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Klimt never painted a self-portrait, writing that he was "less interested" in himself than in other people.

Portrait of Fritza Riedler, 1906 pic.twitter.com/GJsziZaXRl

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Klimt insisted that anyone who wanted to know something about him should "look carefully at [his] paintings."

Hope II, 1907-08 pic.twitter.com/ItuTqyBEWT

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt

Judith II (sometimes called Salome), 1909 pic.twitter.com/WpI7u65f0k

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Trees in the Park, 1909-10, is the closest Klimt came to painting something abstract. pic.twitter.com/lGitMojoe3

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt

Death and Life, 1911 pic.twitter.com/9M3UCFlAE0

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt

The Virgins, 1913 pic.twitter.com/GtnIhczApg

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Klimt kept no diary and wrote little about his painting method or his work.

(Mada) Eugenia Primavesi (1913-14) pic.twitter.com/EyPf3inRLu

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt

Baby, 1917-18 pic.twitter.com/CdYm2nbaSr

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
"There is nothing special about me," wrote Klimt. "I am a painter who paints day after day from morning to night."
(Commentary on a Non-Existent Self-Portrait)

Klimt with his cat pic.twitter.com/fEjpjUXE2e

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019

#ArtSaturday Klimt
Klimt died in 1918, suffering a severe stroke about a bout of pneumonia. He is buried in Vienna.

Gustav Klimt, 1914 pic.twitter.com/Sak3A3zrwz

— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #MeToo #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) March 9, 2019