ART SPATE: AN AUSTRIAN SYMBOLIST PAINTER GUSTAV KLIMT

During his lifetime, Gustav Klimt was a controversial star whose works made passions run high. He stood for Modernism but he also embodied tradition. His pictures polarised and divided the art-loving world. The press and general public alike were split over the question: For or against Klimt?

Austrian artist Klimt (1862 – 1918) was known to have an exceeding love for two things: his home country and women. In art circles, he was known as a womanizer (fathering at least 14 illegitimate children), and it was this extreme admiration of women that motivated both his prodigality and his artwork. He said, "Whoever wants to know something about me, as an artist, which alone is significant, they should look attentively at my pictures and there seek to recognise what I am and what I want''.