Gustav Klimt

by Michael Sochynsky

"I can paint and I can draw. I think so,

and others also say they think so.

But I am not sure that it is true.

Only two things are sure to me:

1. No self-portrait of me is in existence.

I am not interested in myself

as the "subject of a painting", I am interested

rather in other people, women in particular,

and even more in other subjects.

I am convinced that as a human

being I am not particularly interesting.

There is nothing extraordinary to be seen in me.

I am a painter and I paint ever day from morning

to evening. Human figures, landscapes, more rarely portraits.

2. I am not at ease with the spoken word or

the written word, even when it comes to expressing

something about my work or myself.

When I have to write even the simplest

of letters, I feel a sense of fear

that is like seasickness. This is why

there can be no self-portrait in my case

either artistic or literary.

Which there is no reason to regret.

If anyone wants to know anything about me

as a painter- and that is the only question

worthy of consideration-

let him carefully study my works

and try to read in them

what I am and what I wish for."

-Gustav Klimt

Before the turn of the century, the rest of the world always embraced Vienna and Austria for its music and architecture, but really not so much for its visual arts. Gustav Klimt not only propelled Vienna into the art world, but also helped define what art was to be for the century to come. Klimt, a historical painter for the first half of his career and a painter of the human form the second half, was the most important man in the art world of Vienna from the late 1880s up until his death in 1918. He was always a man ready to break down any barrier put before him. During the early years of his career, when he was a historical muralist, he was constantly pressuring the Ringstrasse to grant him artistic license in his commissioned paintings. During the second half of his career, Klimt actually transcended the title of a portraitist, and began to create a new genre of painting by expanding on the concept of a realistic portrayal of a person. Klimt brought in new elements which not only had never been incorporated into a painting of a person before, but had never been used before in any style of painting. It should be made clear that Klimt by no means created modern or abstract painting. Gustav Klimt was, however, the essential step between the traditional styles of the Biedermeier and full-fledged modern art. Klimt's art was even more than a bridge between the old and the new, but a synthesis of the two. During the second half of Klimt's career, the realistic faces in his portraits were still there, but everything other than the face- the clothing, the foreground, and the background- became something very removed from realism. If the face were removed from the canvas, the painting could very easily be considered purely abstract, and most certainly modern.

Background

The University Paintings

The Secession

Synthesis of Traditional and Modern

Bibliography and Footnotes