Klimt

Taschen books are beautiful, original and unpredictable. Gustav Klimts art is thoroughly fin de siecle. It expresses the apocalyptic atmosphere of Viennas upper-middle-class society - a society devoted to the cultivation of aesthetic awareness and the cult of pleasure. The ecstatic joy which Klimt (1862–1918) and his contemporaries found - or hoped to find - in beauty was constantly overshadowed by death, and death therefore plays an important role in Klimts art. Klimts fame, however, rests on his reputation as one of the greatest erotic painters and graphic artists of his times. Particularly his drawings, which have been widely admired for their artistic excellence, are dominated by the erotic portrayal of women. Klimt saw the world in female form. Author Gottfried Fliedl also discusses the Secession movement and Klimts role within this important group of artists. About the author: After studying art history in Vienna and Marburg, Gottfried Fliedl accepted a lectureship at the Academy of Applied Art in Vienna, where he taught for 10 years before becoming a lecturer in museology at the Universities of Klagenfurt and Vienna.