Gustav Klimt: Background

This section is here to provide an overview of Klimt's life and to give an outline of his major works. No works are discussed in specific here. If interested in a more detailed analysis of a work, go here.

Gustav Klimt was born July 14, 1862, in Baumgarten, a Viennese suburb. His father Ernst Klimt, an immigrant from Bohemia, was a gold engraver, but made very little money. As a result Klimt spent his childhood living in utter poverty. Gustav was the second of seven children, three of which pursued careers in the arts. When he was fourteen years old, he quit school, and enrolled at a local college of arts and crafts. Immediately his artistic abilities were recognized and he was encouraged to develop them. Still fourteen years old, in October of 1876, he applied for a place at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts and Crafts), one of the two Viennese public art schools. He was accepted and his he paid his tuition through a bursary the school supplied. The school was part of a larger institution called the Austrian Museum for Art and Industry.

Klimt studied at the School of Applied Arts for two years, and then continued his studies at the School of Professional Painting, which he stayed at until 1881. Klimt's most important mentor at this time was his teacher, Ferdinand Laufberger. At the school Klimt gained a very strong background in art history. Klimt's younger brother Ernst Klimt (1864-1892) joined him at the School one year later in 1877. During this time they met Franz Matsch (1861-1942), another student at the school. The three men would form a company of painters in the years to come. Their largest influence was Hans Makart (1840-1884), the most famous painter of Vienna at the time. They all adapted his prominent use of color, as opposed to a strict focus on the subject matter. Professor Laufberger helped the three young painters launch their careers in 1879 when they helped decorate a pageant held in celebration of the silver wedding of the Imperial couple, Franz-Josef I and Elisabeth. Starting in 1880, this trio of painters did several projects, slowly becoming the most prominent painters of the Ringstrasse. Their first commission was a painting of four medallions in the corners of a ceiling in a house belonging to the architect Sturany. Starting in 1881, the company began to work on murals for large public buildings, primarily theatres.

By 1883, the Klimt brothers left the Kunstgewerbeschule and the three painters officially formed a company called the Kunstlercompanie, the Company of Artists. From 1883-1885 they painted frescos on ceilings and curtains for theatres of Liberec, Karlovy Vary, Rijeka, and Bucharest. In 1886, the company was commissioned decorate the two main staircases of the Burgtheatre. In 1887, Klimt was commissioned by himself to paint a picture of the auditorium of the Old Burgtheatre, before its destruction. It was during this time that Klimt began to develop his own style. In 1888, the Emperor of Austria awarded Klimt the Gold Cross for artistic merit, and in 1891, his company received a rather substantial commission to finish the stairwell of the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History), which was never finished by Hans Makart due to his death. Klimt was responsible for eleven works: eight spandrels and three intercolumniations. In 1892, Ernst Klimt tragically died, causing the company to dissolve.

Despite this loss, by this time Klimt had become a well-established and respected artist among the Ringstrasse elite. In 1894, Klimt and Matsch were offered a commission that would change Klimt's career, although he did not know it at the time. He was asked to decorate the ceiling of the Great Hall of the new University of Vienna. They were assigned to portray the "Triumph of Light over Dark," by having one large centerpiece, Theology, and three smaller pieces, Philosophy, Medicine, and Jurisprudence. Matsch painted the centerpiece, and Klimt the three secular pieces. Klimt didn't finish these pieces until 1900, but when he did they caused a huge uproar because of their symbolism and style. To find out more about these groundbreaking paintings, visit here.

Klimt's next large accomplishment was a thirty-meter long frieze dedicated to Beethoven, which was for an exhibit at the Secession that was also dedicated to Beethoven. It was during this time that Klimt's definitive style truly began to develop. In 1897, several members of the Co-operative of Viennese Painters left the association and founded their own, which became known as the Secession. If interested in the specifics of the Secession, click here. After 1900, Klimt began creating the works for which he is famous. In 1906 he painted his Portrait of Fritza Riedler, and in 1907 he painted Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer and his most famous piece, The Kiss. In 1908 he painter Death and Life, and in 1912 and 1916 he painted his most colorful pieces, The Virgin and Portrait of Friedericke Maria Beer, respectively. For a more in depth discussion of these works, go here. Klimt during the latter half of his life spent the summers in the country and painted landscapes. Even though one fourth of all of Klimt's works are landscapes, he is not very famous for them. In 1918, Klimt passed away.

Click here to go back to the main page.