Gustav Klimt
July 14, 1862
Gustav Klimt was an Austrian Symbolist painter who dominated the art scene in Austria and Hungary during the first two decades of the 1900s. Klimt spent seven years at the School of Arts and Crafts of Vienna, beginning at the young age of 14.
Much of Klimt’s work is erotic and the female body was one of his primary subject matters.
The Kiss is probably Klimt’s most well known painting. According to iklimt.com, The Kiss is compared to the Mona Lisa because they both exert a similar pull and fascination. Klimt painted The Kiss during his Golden Phase, a period in which he used gold leaf in most of his paintings.
I have fallen in love with Portrait of Eugenia Primavesi and have recently become a huge Klimt fan as I’ve seen more and more of his work. The colors! The patterns! The designs! I could look at this painting all day.
In his later years, Klimt turned to landscapes and completed 54 before his death. Some of Klimt’s landscapes remind me of Monet, the way he captures the light and the looseness of the paintings; others remind me of Van Gogh in their whimsical nature.
