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Born on 14 July 1862 in Baumgarten, Vienna, Klimt was awarded a scholarship to attend the School of Applied Arts at the Austrian Museum for Art and Industry from 1876 to 1883.
1897 he founded the Vienna Sezession, becoming its first president until 1905. Klimt’s style was a compelling blend of Art Nouveau and Symbolist elements towards the turn of the century. His paintings were the core of Viennese art.
Around 1908 a particular metamorphosis derived within his landscape paintings. As it seemed he intended to bring in architecture as a motif in landscape painting (Schloss Kammer am Attersee I, 1908).
This type of landscape painting stays untouched of the landscape’s idiosyncrasy, in which it is set. It would be impossible to detect the place of origin.
The majority of Klimt’s landscape paintings have the surroundings of lake Attersee as their dominating motif. Klimt’s inspiration came from the nature and landscape of the area, where he usually started working on his paintings, though he hardly ever came to finish his paintings during his summer holidays on lake Attersee. Most of his works were then completed in Vienna.
Since Klimt had turned away from the academic style, he created a new and unique style, enriched by shading and based on the sinuous, decorative principles of Art Nouveau: golden surfaces, confused schemes and strong exploration of themes such as sexuality and morals without ever losing sight of reality. He merges the different trends of the international Art Nouveau Movement and creates a synthesis of figures and ornaments.
With his ability of creating tension between opposites, such as brittle and smooth, hard and soft forms he became a pioneer of Modernism.
With the help of grids he was able to produce mosaics of gold and many reflecting colours.
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