Gustav Klimt, the painter

Extraordinary lives are marked by extraordinary paintings.

The life of the painter Klimt was simple and at the same time somewhat cloistered, dedicated to his art and his family and little else except for the Secessionist Movement, and he avoided café society and other artists socially. Klimt's fame usually attracted clients to his door, and he could afford to be selective with his clientele. His painting method was meticulous and sometimes required long sessions with his subjects. Although Klimt was very sexually active, he kept his affairs discreet and avoided personal scandal. Klimt also used mythology and allegory to subtly disguise his highly erotic nature, and his drawings often reveal a purely sexual interest in women as objects. His models were routinely available to pose in any erotic manner he pleased.

Like several artists of his time, many of his models were also prostitutes.

Gustav Klimt Works