Discover the brilliant and sensual work of Gustav Klimt, the Austrian symbolist painter who combined decorative art with eroticism. From landscape paintings to his dazzling depictions of the female body, the founding member of the Viennese Secession continues to fascinate with his works abounding in mosaic-like patterns, curves and radiant colours.

Gold, flowers and feminine beauty

The fascinating world of Gustav Klimt

The enduring popularity of Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) testifies not only to the particular appeal of his exuberant painting, but also to the universal themes with which he worked: love, feminine beauty, the passage of time and death.
Klimt, who was the son of a goldsmith, created surfaces of an ornate luminosity similar to that of a precious stone and very common in Japanese and Egyptian art. His paintings, murals and friezes are characterised by radiant colour, flowing lines, floral elements and mosaic-like patterns.
He tackles numerous themes, including sensuality and desire as well as restlessness and despair, in which all this iridescence is also charged with emotion. His innumerable images of voluptuous, consiluted women, delicate skin, crimson lips and flushed cheeks exuded passion at a time when such overt eroticism was still taboo in upper-middle-class Viennese society.
This book presents a selection of Klimt's work that provides an insight into his pictorial world of decoration and desire, as well as his influence on future artists.

About the author

Gilles Néret (1933-2005) was an art historian, journalist, writer and museum curator. He founded the SEIBU museum and the Wildenstein gallery in Tokyo, edited the art magazines L'ŒilyConnaissance des Arts, and was awarded the Élie Faure prize in 1981. Numerous books he wrote for TASCHEN includeDalí The Pictorial Work,MatisseyErotica Universalis.

Publisher: Taschen