The Study of:
GUSTAV KLIMT
and
Art Nouveau
Time and Place:
Vienna during the 1890’s
This Austrian Capital was a vital cultural and scientific center.
Interactive map of Austria
“I have the gift of neither the spoken nor the written
word, especially if I have to say something about
myself or my work. Whoever wants to know
something about me -as an artist, the only notable
thing- ought to look carefully at my pictures and try
and see in them what I am and what I want to do."
Gustav Klimt
The work of the Austrian painter and illustrator Gustav Klimt, b.
July 14, 1862, d. Feb. 6, 1918, founder of the school of painting
known as the Vienna Secession, embodies the high-keyed free
spirited, psychological, and aesthetic preoccupations of turn-of-thecentury Vienna's dazzling intellectual world.
He has been called the top example of ART NOUVEAU.
What is Art Nouveau?
(sounds like - art new vO)
art nou·veau –noun
Fine Arts. Means “new art”. This was
a movement that developed during
the 1890’s. Some characteristics
include handmade materials and
flat patterns based on stylized plant
forms.
Googled Images
Art Nouveau (French for 'new art')
The name 'Art Nouveau' derived from the
name of a shop in Paris, Maison de l'Art
Nouveau, at the time run by Siegfried
Bing, that showcased objects that
followed this approach to design. The
style introduced by Bing was not an
immediate success in Paris but rapidly
spread to Nancy and to
Belgium(especially Brussels) where
Victor Horta and Henry Van de Velde
would make major contributions in the
field of architecture and design. In the
United Kingdom Art Nouveau developed
out of the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Inspiration:
Klimt visited Ravenna, Italy, where he
saw early Christian mosaics made from
bits of stone and glass that inspired him
to paint the patterns in his artwork.
Death and Life
Two portraits of Emily Floge
He earlier work is
a highly realistic,
formal portrait.
The second
portrait has a
stylized dreamlike quality with a
realistic face.
Emily Floge at the age of 17, 1891.
Portrait of Emily Floge, 1902
In this composition
Klimt incorporated
many design
elements, such as,
complementary
colors yellow (gold)
and blue and repeated
patterns of shapes.
Adele Bloch-Bauer I 1907
Oil and gold on canvas, 138 x 138; Austrian
Gallery, Vienna
Adele Bloch-Bauer clasping her hands (she had a
deformed finger). Dressed in gold, surrounded by
gold. A very gold picture.
Portrait of Eugenia
Primavesi
1913-1914
Klimt, Gustav Oil on canvas
140 x 85 cm
Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota
City, Japan
The women in many of
Klimt’s portraits were
the wives of wealthy
Viennese businessmen
and art collectors.
Medicine (Hygieia)
1900 – 07
Format
430 x 300 cm
Technique
Oil on canvas
Location Burned in Schlob Immendorf,
Austria, 1945
The University of Vienna
rejected Klimt’s Medicine mural
because his mystical, snake
handling priestess did not fit the
University professors’ image of
the physician as a scientist and
healer.
The Kiss
Year
1907 – 08
Format180 x 180 cm
Technique Oil on
canvas
Location Vienna,
Osterreichische
Museum für
Angewandte Kunst
Mäda Primavesi
(1903–2000), 1912
Gustav Klimt
(Austrian, 1862–
1918)
Gift of André and Clara Mertens,
in memory of her mother, Jenny
Pulitzer Steiner, 1964 (64.148)
In this portrait, the flower in
Mada’s hair and the row of
flowers across her dress link
her with the floral patterns
in the rug and wallpaper.
Klimt’s style became freer
with fewer dense patterns
and hard edges in his later
years.
Hope, II. 190708.
Gustav Klimt.
(Austrian,
1862-1918). Oil,
gold, and platinum
on canvas, 43 1/2 x
43 1/2" (110.5 x
110.5 cm). Jo Carole
and Ronald S.
Lauder, and Helen
Acheson Funds, and
Serge Sabarsky
Hope II
A pregnant woman bows her head and closes her eyes, as if praying for the
safety of her child. Peeping out from behind her stomach is a death's head,
sign of the danger she faces. At her feet, three women with bowed heads
raise their hands, presumably also in prayer—although their solemnity might
also imply mourning, as if they foresaw the child's fate.
Why, then, the painting's title? Although Klimt himself called this work Vision,
he had called an earlier, related painting of a pregnant woman Hope. By
association with the earlier work, this one has become known as Hope, II.
There is, however, a richness here to balance the women's gravity.
Klimt was among the many artists of his time who were inspired by sources
not only within Europe but far beyond it. He lived in Vienna, a crossroads of
East and West, and he drew on such sources as Byzantine art, Mycenean
metalwork, Persian rugs and miniatures, the mosaics of the Ravenna
churches, and Japanese screens. In this painting the woman's gold-patterned
robe—drawn flat, as clothes are in Russian icons, although her skin is
rounded and dimensional—has an extraordinary decorative beauty. Here,
birth, death, and the sensuality of the living exist side by side suspended in
equilibrium.
Gustav Klimt
Baby (Cradle), 1917/1918
Gift of Otto and Franciska Kallir with the help of the Carol and Edwin Gaines Fullinwider Fund
1978.
Detail of Baby (Cradle)
The
Maiden
1912 - 13
In his landscapes, Klimt left out the human figure. He
preferred to concentrate on the patterns formed by the
plants and flowers.
Why might Beech
Forest I be considered a
“painted mosaic”?
Klimt used small quick
brushstrokes to form a
glittering pattern of
orange and yellow dots,
dashes, and scribbles
that resemble tiles in a
mosaic.
Beech Forest I, 1902
Contemporary Mosaic by Laurel True
Farm Garden with Sunflower, 1905
Tree of Life
 There is a vast amount of detail
in this painting.
 Notice the “Egyptian eye”
sprouting from the branches.
 There are triangles, swirls, and
circles within circles.
 The colors intensify as you get
at the flower garden on the
ground.
 Made from gold and ceramic
tiles, exotic woods, glass, and
jewels.
 Tree symbolizes life cycles.
Seedpods and other organic
shapes represents creativity
and rebirth; the black bird
symbolizes death.
Gustav Klimt - Assessment
Working with Pattern
1. What kind of city was Vienna during the 1890s?
2. What is Art Nouveau?
3. How does Klimt’s style differ in the two portraits of Emily
Floge?
4. Why did the university of Vienna reject Klimt’s Medicine
mural?
5. What did Klimt see in 1903 that would inspire the patterns in
his artwork?
6. What are some general characteristics of Klimt’s landscapes?
7. Why might Beech Forest I be considered a “painted
mosaic”?
8. What materials did Klimt use to create Tree of Life?
9. What are some of the symbols in the Tree of Life?
10. Who were the women in many of Klimt’s portraits?
11. What elements did Klimt incorporate into paintings such
as Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer?
12. In Portrait of Mada Primavesi, what elements link the
subject with her surroundings?
Art Lessons
Making
Lesson 1 – Tree of Life
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
You will create your own “Tree of Life”.
In pencil, lightly draw your tree of life…swirl the branches,
add patterns (eyes, circles in circles, etc.)
Use beige tempera paint to paint in the tree.
Fill in your design with materials of your choice: colored
pencils, markers, oil pastels, tempera paints, etc.
Ornament: Create embellishments using metallic markers,
metallic paper, or sequins.
materials needed:
large sheets of white art paper (heavy weight), colored pencils, pencil, tempera
paints, metallic craft paper, gold markers, colored markers, glue, and sequins.
Lesson 2 – Klimt Scratchboard
Look at Klimt’s paintings for inspiration in creating scratchboard
and collage portraits.
Line, shape, pattern, and the design principle known as Emphasis
were the focus of this lesson.
Utilizing Klimt's trademark gold color and intricate pattern work,
students create designs where their figure was the focal point in
their design. This was accomplished by establishing contrast
between the pattern work in the figure and in the background.
Students used scratch knives to carefully scratch away the black
ink that is applied to the gold board underneath.
Lesson 3 – Creating with Pattern