About Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt an Austrian Symbolism Painter born on July 14, 1862 was one of the most celebrated members of the Vienna movement. Some of Klimt's major works include paintings, murals, sketches and other art objects. Klimt's tertiary subject was the female body and his works are marked by a frank eroticism, nowhere is this more apparent than in his numerous drawings in pencil.

Art historians note an eclectic range of influences making up Klimt's distinct style, including Egyptian, Minoan, Classical Greek and Byzantine inspirations. His mature works are characterized by a rejection of earlier naturalistic styles, and make use of symbols or symbolic elements to convey psychological ideas and emphasize the "freedom" of art from traditional culture.

Klimt's work is often defined by elegant gold or coloured decoration, spirals and swirls, and phallic shapes used to camouflage the more erotic positions of the drawings upon which many of his paintings are based. This can be seen in Judith I (1901), and in The Kiss (1907-1908), and especially in Danae (1907). One of the most associated themes Klimt used was that of the dominant woman, the femme fetale

Klimt died on February 6, 1918 and today some of Klimt's paintings have brought some of the foremost prices recorded for individual works of art. Enjoy reading about Gustav Klimt and Gustav Klimt paintings.