Vienna in the 19th century, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time, was a city full of contradictions. Viennese society's resistance to new things and changes is most evident in its attitude towards contemporary art. Vienna's Academy of Fine Arts and Exhibition Halls controlled all aspects of artistic activity, even Austria's exhibitions abroad.
In 1897, a group of young artists who had broken with the official academic school finally appeared. They argue that conservative academicism is a huge obstacle that should be completely separated from it. As a result, they organized their own avant-garde exhibitions, seeking to communicate art with life and show their true selves. These artists (including painters and architects) did not advocate a particular style, but preferred decorative and symbolic, thus distanced themselves from the academic kind of 19th-century "historicism".
They have their own art monthly magazine and exhibition gallery. Art historians also refer to the Vienna Secession as the Viennese version of Art Nouveau. Klimt was the first president of this genre organization and one of the most accomplished and influential artists.
Klimt's The Avenue in the Garden, 1912
Oil painting cloth 110 x 110 cm
Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was the son of an Austrian goldsmith who was not wealthy. From the age of 14 to 20, he studied at the School of Plastic Arts in Vienna, and from the age of 18 he was commissioned with his brother for the decoration of the theater church and the museum. This experience reinforced Klimt's later eclectic tendencies in his artistic creations and broadened the reference to art history. He was also interested in byzantine mosaics that could be found in Vienna. In his works, there are often gold, part of the delicate part plus part of the abstract part, symbolism and female figure, and so on. In 1900, the first painting of his group paintings (three in total) for the University of Vienna, Philosophy, was exhibited in unfinished form at the World's Fair in Paris and won the Grand Prix. The other two paintings, Medicine (1901) and Jurisprudence (1902), both of which were innovative and sensual, became the subject of controversy. In 1912 he became president of the Austrian National Union of Artists, and in 1917 he was awarded the honorary professorship at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.
Klimt is often considered to be too debauched and the symbolism is outrageous. Indeed, his early works caused controversy and even uproar. The works on display are often taken down. The Nazis even burned some of his works. However, in terms of their technique alone, they are quite traditional and often have strong decorative characteristics. Controversial themes are often caused by the paintings. In a sense, his work conveys the psychological and aesthetic interests of Viennese intellectuals during the turn of the century.
Klimt's absorption of tradition is also an interesting subject. It is generally believed that the sources of his painting style include Egyptian art, ancient Greek art (including Cretan Minos art), Byzantine art, late medieval art, Dürer's woodcut art, photography, and contemporary modern art, etc. Interestingly, while synthesizing these resources, the painter highlights his personality and incomparable elegance.
Klimt's Adele, bought by a Chinese buyer for 1.03 billion yuan.
Klimt always seemed to be a controversial man, and still does today. The Fable of "Sculpture" is an early work by Klimt. Obviously, this belongs to the more classical style. The graceful image of the living "sculpture" (the human body) contrasts meaningfully with the statuettes held in the hand and the inanimate sculptures themselves (metal and marble) on the background, while echoing each other. In this way, the artist may want to express his feelings about the beauty of the female body, while revealing the spiritual connection between his own era and the past. Both the graceful maiden and the huge sculptural head behind her seem to exude a faint, dreamy melancholy mood.
What is amazing is that there is no trace of a rigid patchwork between the two, showing the extraordinary talent of the artist. The gold of the ornaments (necklaces and arms) on the woman's body adds a noble, ornate temperament to the image, while reflecting the painter's preference for color. He frequently used gold in many of his later works. However, in this work, the visual effect of the opposite is still insistent, which is very different from his later works.
Klimt's Schubert playing the piano (1899) oil on canvas
150x200 cm, burned down in 1945
Schubert playing the piano is a work by the painter before his artistic language is fully formed and matured, depicting a piece of the life of a great musician, and is a masterpiece of great eloquence, from which one can clearly see the traces of the influence of Impressionist painting, especially the painting characteristics of Degas and Renoir. The theme of music, the emphasis on light and shadow, and the laying out of the diversity of colors are indeed the pursuit of Impressionism.
"Birch Forest" shows klimt's appearance after entering a mature period of creation. Unlike previous landscape paintings, the painter only cut the lower half of the birch tree, trying to express the beauty of the special texture of the trunk. The fallen leaves on the ground are a piece of gold, which does not seem to be an accurate reflection of the seasons, because the turquoise leaves are more reminiscent of spring, and the interspersed small birch trees are straight or curved, which seems to weaken the depth of the landscape, so that the texture of the birch trees and even the flatness of the whole picture are more obviously emphasized.
Klimt's Birch Grove (1903) oil on canvas
110x110 cm, Museum of Arts and Crafts, Vienna
The Three Stages of a Woman embodies some of Klimt's basic stylistic features as he moved toward modernist art, such as the color of the cangran, the decorative sense of pattern influenced by oriental fabrics (kimonos), and the weakening of perspective. At the same time, the painter symbolically juxtaposes the three stages of women's life — childhood, adulthood and old age — revealing a certain philosophy of life through the contrast between the differences in posture and skin at different ages. Compared to the decorative, patterned and brilliant colors rendered in the center of the picture, the background is just a very simple flat surface.
Klimt's Kiss
This painting has a strong sad tone in style, but also with a strong oriental decorative flavor, which can be said to be the most typical work of Klimt's painting style, which fully demonstrates the unique artistic characteristics of the painter. The love shown on the picture, from the overall atmosphere, is sad and sentimental, rather than joy and excitement, and even has some decadent colors. The tall man was hugging his beloved lover tightly and kissing, and the woman was leaning her head back and closing her eyes, as if she were immersed in a quiet and confused love.
Danae is another of his masterpieces, depicting a story from Greek mythology. Danae was the daughter of Akrisios, king of Argos. It was prophesied that the king would be killed by the offspring of his daughter, so the king imprisoned his daughter in a copper tower so that no one who admired her beauty could approach her. However, the Lord God was unable to contain his love for Danae, and as a result turned into a golden rain that made him pregnant. The scene in the painting is Danae sleeping and the golden rain falling from the sky. Danae should be said to be a subject often used in ancient painting to express the beauty of the female form. Here, Klimt paints the sleeping Danae in a crouched position, while the texture of the fabric and the fluttering red hair seem to suggest a sense of floating underwater, which is a wonderful representation of the real state of the person in the dream.
"Expectation" is a wonderful work by Klimt when he has reached a state of extreme or complete freedom in terms of decorativeness.
(Compiled from "History of Western Art", copyright belongs to the original author)
EDIT: Pony