10 INCREDIBLE FACTS ABOUT GUSTAV KLIMT
Gustav Klimt was born 14. July 1862 in Vienna, Austria, and died 6. February 1918. He is the founder of the school of painting known as the Vienne Sezession. In 1883 he opened an independent studio specializing in the execution of mural paintings. He painted many pictures that are famous today.
1. A notorious womanizer:
Gustav was never married, but he had many lovers and probably fathered 14 children. He painted many portraits of women, both very erotic and sexual. "Judith I" painted in 1901, is a sensual woman with dominance over the masculine. All his relationships and affairs, he kept discreet to avoid personal scandal. Gustav said, "I am less interested in myself as a subject for a painting than I am in other people, above all, women."
2. Was not interested in self-portraits, so he never composed one:
Almost all the artists are painting a self-portrait of themself, especially if they are interested in figure drawing and painting, as Gustav was. "I have never painted a self-portrait." Gustav once said. He was not interested in himself at all. If someone wanted to know something about him, he told them to look carefully at his pictures.
3. He painted the most expensive art that has been sold at auction:
Gustav painted "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I." in 1907. The picture was ordered by Bloch-Bauer's husband, a sugar producer, and a Jewish banker. Very elegant, painted with realism. With a long billowing dress and golden colors and surroundings. Maria Altmann, one of Bloch-Bauer's nieces, had a longlasting court battle about the painting, and in 2006 she reclaimed ownership. Maria sold the painting at auction the same year for $135 million - considered the most money ever paid for a work of art at auction.
4. Many of Klimt's most brilliant paintings were burned:
A castle in a small Austrian village of Immendorf, Schloss Immendorf, was used as safe storage for stolen and looted art during the war. Fourteen of Gustav's works were there. All of the paintings got destroyed, burnt down by an SS unit. The most devastating losses were Gustav's controversial paintings for the University of Vienna ceiling, which is now preserved solely through preparatory sketches and several number of photographs.
5. Gustav had a "Golden Phase":
Gustav's use of gold leaf in his paintings was at the beginning of 1898 with Pallas Athene. In the same period, he also used geometrics and floral motifs. In 1903 he traveled to Ravenna in Italy and went to see Basilica San Vitale. A church that is considered a masterpiece by Byzantine architecture, using mosaics style. This style got Gustav inspired, as you can see in his work like "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907)" and "The Kiss (1907-1908)". This golden phase did not come before into the middle of his career, as he is most known for this golden glow in his works. Before the golden phase, he painted predominantly in oil and large-scale murals. It was his father working with gold that tutored him on how to use the material.
6. Two of his paintings got stolen during World War II:
When the Nazis occupied Austria during World War II, they took all private belongings, including paintings. One of the paintings was the "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. " The paintings were kept in the Austrian museum. Maria Altmann, the niece of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, got the painting among three other Gustav's paintings, through the court.
7. Born in an artistic family:
Gustav was the second of seven children in the family. Anna, his mother, was a talented musician, with a dream to become an opera singer. But because of many children, the pressures of motherhood, the dream did not get fulfilled. His father, Ernst, was a gold engraver by trade as well as a skilled painter. He taught his children to paint from a very young age. Gustav had such talent that he got a full scholarship to the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts by age 14. His younger brother followed as well.
8. "The Kiss" had a panicked creative story:
Gustav was not sure if he was doing the right thing about the direction his career was taking. From the previous showcase, he had a critical failure for using radical themes and material and was called "pornographic." His new paintings, he was panicked from the minute he started to sketch them. He said, "Either I'm too old, or too nervous, or too stupid - there must be something wrong." That is highly reflective of the anxiety that "The Kiss" wrought for the paper. It became his most iconic work.
9. Into Landscapes:
Gustav is most known for his passion for women in his paintings, but landscapes were his other interest. The only thing he liked beside figure painting. Every year he went on trips to Lake Atter in Upper Austria and painted many landscapes. The locals of that area nicknamed him Waldschrat, "forest demon." He used a telescope to scope his composition from afar.
10. He began his career as an interior decorator:
Gustav was the best in school, and he earned several commissions before he graduated. His studies centered on architectural painting, and his style was influenced by Hans Makart, Vienna's most history painter at that time. Gustav, Ernst, and their friend Franz made an interior decoration studio, Company of Artists, focusing on private and public murals in the famous historical style. They got many assignments and commissions, including their fêted mural at the Vienna Burgtheater and the ceiling of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Their work got recognized by Emperor Franz Josef I, who awarded them the Golden Order of Merit.
Gustav Klimt's famous paintings:
"The Kiss"
The Kiss is an oil-on-canvas painting with added gold leaf, silver, and platinum. It was painted at some point in 1907 and 1908, during the height of what scholars call his "Golden Period".
"Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I"
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, completed between 1903 and 1907. The portrait was commissioned by the sitter's husband, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, a Jewish banker and sugar producer. The painting was stolen by the Nazis in 1941 and displayed at the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere.
