Gustav Klimt

The kiss by Gustav Klimt, the famous Tree of Life, Danae as well as the portrait of Adele were among the most important works of Klimt and of art in general.

Gustav Klimt (Gustav Klimt, July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian painter and one of the most important representatives of the Vienna Secession movement that played an important role in the development of Art Nouveau.

Klimt first became known through the decorative works he created with his brother, Ernst Klimt, and Franz Matz. His early works were more conventional, following the established aesthetic standards of the time. The three young artists even undertook the completion of the project for the decoration of the staircase of the Art History Museum in Vienna.

Klimt was less influenced by the Rococo elements and more by the rich decoration of the paintings. A feature also found in several of his works, is that the background is decorated with numerous shapes and details, often with gold and silver leaf. Already in the works he designed for the Museum of Art History, Klimt's willingness to go beyond the limits of academicism is evident, a fact that became more evident later, with his participation in the Vienna Secession.

Klimt's style was generally distinctive and innovative, combining elements of Symbolism and Art Nouveau, with parallel influences from Ancient Greek Mycenaean and Egyptian vase painting, while he was often considered provocative for his time and suffered harsh criticism or disapproval. The eroticism that dominates his works caused several reactions, as in the case of the paintings he created for the University of Vienna. Klimt's insistence on depicting women is evident, with men absent from most of his work. The erotic element is also overt in several of his designs, which he described as a tribute to "the kind but also lustful race of the hypersensitive".

“The Kiss” is a famous painting by the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt. The painting was created in the period 1907-1908 and belongs to the so-called golden period of Klimt. It is considered Klimt's most famous work, but also one of the most famous of Art Nouveau. It was presented for the first time at the Kunstschaus exhibition in 1908 for the 60th anniversary of Franz Joseph's accession to the throne, when the Secession, the artistic movement in which Klimt participated, was beginning to lose ground. Two other of his paintings, Elpida II and Danae, were exhibited in the same exhibition. The painting is now owned by the Belvedere art gallery in Vienna, which bought the work soon after it was first shown. "The Kiss" has since been replicated many times.