Gustav Klimt said: "I have never painted a self-portrait. I lack an interest in taking myself as the subject of a painting, and women prioritize... I'm nothing special. I am a painter who paints day in and day out... Anyone who wants to know me better... You should look at my paintings with caution. "
I. Biography of the artist
Gustav Klimt (German: 14 July 1862 – 6 February 1918, also known as Gustav Klimt)
Born in Vienna, he was a well-known Austrian symbolist painter who founded the Vienna Secession School and is a representative of the Viennese cultural circle.
Gustav Klimt
Klimt's paintings are characterized by the use of decorative painting symbols and painting patterns to express his painting philosophy, he was obsessed with women all his life, liked local luxury gold, the works are very symbolic and decorative, the theme often revolves around the reincarnation of "sex", "love", "life" and "death".
Those who liked his paintings praised his "dull beauty" and bold symbolic meaning, but also attracted negative criticism from many conservative painters.
Klimt emphasizes personal aesthetic taste, emotional expression and imaginative creation, and his works have both the philosophical rationality of symbolist painting content and the decorative taste of the East. He pays attention to the proportional division of space and the expressiveness of the line, and pays attention to the formalistic design style. His asymmetrical composition, decorative patterned modeling, heavy color and line drawing style, golden and brilliant tone, the potential mystical color in the symbol, the strong sense of flatness and the rich and brilliant decorative effect make the picture permeate with a strong personality temperament, which has a huge and far-reaching impact on the art of painting and poster design.
In 1918, Klimt fell ill from suffering from Spanish influenza.
2. Appreciation of Klimt's works
For reasons of length, only some representative works are put, all works are shared for free, and private message klimt can be extracted:
kiss
The Kiss is the artist's most famous work, considered by some to be his only self-portrait, depicting the women of his lifelong lover, partner, model and muse, Emily Frogger, whom Klimt wrote hundreds of postcards and spent summers in the countryside with them every year. However, the two never lived together, married, or had children.
It is a masterpiece of the abstract theme of love. On the flower-filled meadow, the man gently lifted the woman's head and kissed the heroine's cheek passionately. The decorations on men's bodies are all square color blocks, composed of black and white and yellow squares, symbolizing the angular and strong characteristics of men. On the woman's body is a sensual circular pattern with flowing lines, representing the feminine femininity and gentle roundness. The woman wrapped one arm around the man's neck, and the other hand clutched the man's hand, closing her eyes and enjoying the feeling of happiness.
Her expression was intoxicated, contented, and even seemed a little afraid of the end of this happy moment. In the creation of the picture form, various artistic means are mobilized, such as the combination of lines and color blocks, and gold powder is mixed into the color, so that the picture presents a wonderful and warm dream scene.
Portrait of Ethiel Bloch-Bauer I
The painting is considered Klimt's most famous and finest work, once setting a world record for art auctions.
In the picture, Artier is sitting in a golden chair, wearing a dress with many straight lines, squares, triangles and abstract symbols, wearing a jewel necklace around her neck, her hands folded, and her expression is confused, melancholy and indulgent. Her intricately decorated skirts, chairs and shimmering backgrounds are almost integrated, and Atil's hair, face, shoulders and hands are painted in traditional oil painting techniques, but against the backdrop of an almost abstract gold skirt and chair, her image does not seem to belong to the world, but has a strong religious and idol temperament.
The work's most decorative style is derived from its unique method of production: large pieces of gold and silver are made of gold pieces spliced on canvas, and some white areas are plastered, and only about one-tenth of the area is painted in oil. According to the painter himself, his inspiration came from the Basilica of San Vitale in Italy, which is covered with huge but meticulous mosaic decorations, which give him many inspirations for these "incredible brilliant mosaics".
Pallas Athena
Athena was a Greco-Roman goddess of wisdom, a powerful being, and Klimt portrayed her beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.
Remarkably, in this blurry image, Klimt emphasizes the hermaphrodite personality of the goddess Athena, a manifestation of a vague gender identity, and Athena is very masculine in a military uniform and wearing a helmet.
Only the thinning hair hanging from the sides of her neck did we realize that this was a god of justice with a femininity at the same time. On the left side of the painting, her figure is barely visible, but in the corner a clear figure of a appears.
Beethoven Frieze: The desire for happiness. Left wall
Klimt Carol
bride
Klimt loves to draw nude women, most of them ambiguous and laid-back, and you may even think that every nude woman seems to be his lover. In addition to the quality of the paintings, almost all the works are filled with "golden light". However, his posthumous work "The Bride" is significantly weaker in color than previous creations. Although he still shows strong desire and charm in his paintings, the colors are no longer golden and shining, but gradually become peaceful, as if expressing that he is older and more open-minded.
jurisprudence
Design for theater curtains
Adam and Eva (unfinished)
Apple Tree I
sunflower
goldfish
In 1901-1902, Klimt created the Goldfish, a time when he was painting murals for the University of Vienna and causing fierce criticism. Klimt, who created the painting in response to the many who attacked him, intended to title it "To My Critics." In this work, several nude women of different moods are depicted on the rectangular drawing board, and the bodies of the characters are hidden, and the flowing curves and bright nudes make the picture full of vitality. The painter skillfully uses different curve changes and color blocks to form a pattern-like picture, with realism in the decoration, and figuration in the abstract, and a unique painting style. Below, Krems depicts a woman with big hips, seemingly in such a rude posture to fight back at her morally upright critics. The expressions of the characters in the painting are strange and quite sexy. Of course, the goldfish was also criticized, and Klimt was subjected to endless attacks during this time.
Portrait of Ross von Rosethorne Friedman
Portrait of Gerta Fersanwani
Portrait of Maria Munch (unfinished)
hoofer
Brussels Villa Stockley strip-like decorated cartoon: the right part of the Tree of Life
Lady with a fan
Iii. Expressive characteristics of Klimt's decorative painting language
Klimt's paintings, although wild and enthusiastic at first glance, actually conceal the author's regret and sadness about life.
For example, in the work "Three Stages of Women", Klimt divides people's lives into three stages: adolescence, middle age, and old age, using large and small circles to lay the foundation for the picture, these circles are like human cells, densely circling around people, containing the meaning of life return.
In the character sketch, a toddler in the painting sleeps quietly in the arms of her mother, whose wrinkles are still calm and serene despite the thousands of furrows.
On the one hand, this strong contrast between the old and the young expresses the creator's regret and sorrow for the demise of life; on the other hand, it also reflects the vastness of his heart - he will be born into the void, and there is nothing worthy of great joy and sorrow.
The three stages of a woman
1. The expression of color language
In his works, Klimt often uses a mixture of pigments such as gold powder, silver powder or gold leaf to depict them in a flat manner. In addition, it is also common to use different colors and different sizes of colors to lay out the background.
He is good at using all kinds of gold in paintings, such as "The Kiss", "The Three Stages of a Woman", "Portrait of Etile Bloch-Bauer I", "Palas Athena" and so on, at this stage gold was used by him to fire pure blue, not only showing the maturity of his painting style, but also known as the "Golden Period" of his painting period.
2. The expression of the line language
Lines are another outstanding feature of Klimt's work, sometimes delicate and peaceful, sometimes bold and heroic, perfectly combining the rational rigor of the West with the beauty of the implications of the East.
Klimt's lines can not only shape the picture form of the characters, create a sense of space, but also pursue a light and beautiful effect, play a certain decorative role, create a strong visual effect, and achieve the purpose of viewing.
For example, in the painting "Kiss", the male in the painting borrows straight lines of different lengths to depict, and the straight lines will make people feel rational and firm, although they cannot see the facial expression of the men in the painting, they can also create a resolute and courageous image.
Kiss locally
Compared with the rational firmness of the straight line, the curve will give people a sense of lightness and pleasure, and in many of Klimt's paintings, curves are often used to lay out, and large areas of curved lines are interwoven to outline the ever-changing rhythm of the picture
Bride local
Portrait of Ethiel Bloch-Bauer Part I
3. Representation of the compositional language
Klimt is particularly good at using decorative composition and the expression of dots and lines, points and points intertwined, surfaces intersect, lines and points blend together, combined into a rich sense of harmony, he will be the spatial form of the picture through the arrangement and combination of lines, and change into a two-dimensional plane effect with a strong subjective consciousness. In addition, Klimt's paintings often constitute a strong contrast between simple and complex, dense and sparse, and cold and warm tones, which makes the picture more layered and full.
IV. Conclusion
Painting is like a mirror, which uses the interaction of lines and colors to bring us beautiful enjoyment at the same time, but also to put the painter's emotions into our vision, and through euphemistic and elegant pictures, express the brilliance of the creator's rational thoughts.
Klimt's works have a bold innovation in the expression of traditional Western oil painting, and absorb the unique line expression in Chinese painting into their own creation, so as to have their own perception and breakthrough in color, line, etc., not only showing their strong talent and strength in the expression of decorative painting language, but also have great innovation in creative techniques, with profound symbolic significance, and have become one of the objects of key learning in modern art!
Past Push:
One artist a week – Alphonse Mucha