Gustav Klimt.

Gustav Klimt began his formal training at the School of Applied Arts in Vienna in 1876 on a scholarship, alongside his brother Ernst. Between 1880 and 1883, he, his brother, and Franz Matsch executed commissions for ceilings and theaters in Vienna, Karlsbad, and Reichenberg. In 1883 they opened a studio in Vienna, working on the National Theater in Bucharest and the Hermes Villa ceilings for Empress Elisabeth. In 1886 they received a commission for the Burgtheater, completed in 1888, earning him the Golden Cross of Merit from Emperor Franz Joseph I.

In 1891 Klimt joined the Cooperative of Visual Artists, positioning himself between tradition and avant-garde. He co-founded the Vienna Secession in 1897 and served as its first president, advocating for artistic independence. His painting Philosophy won a gold medal in 1900 but faced harsh criticism from academics. In 1902 he created the Beethoven Frieze, which impressed Auguste Rodin. Klimt’s golden period began around 1906, culminating in The Kiss. He won first prize at the International Art Exhibition in Rome in 1911 for Death and Life. In 1917 he was made an honorary member of the academies in Vienna and Munich.

Klimt never married but had three illegitimate sons with his models: Gustav Ucicky, Otto Zimmermann, and Gustav Zimmermann. He met Emilie Flöge around 1891 and remained close friends. His brother Ernst’s death in 1892 deeply affected him and led to a severed partnership with Franz Matsch. Klimt’s relationships with his models produced several children.

Klimt’s work influenced younger artists like Egon Schiele, whom he met in 1907, and Oskar Kokoschka. His painting Adele Bloch-Bauer I, commissioned by Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, was seized by the Nazis in 1938 and returned in 2006 after a legal battle. It sold for $135 million, a record at the time, and inspired the film Woman in Gold. Klimt is best remembered for his gilded masterpieces like The Kiss, which epitomize the Vienna Secession’s break with tradition.