Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt was born in Austria in 1862 and spent his working life in Vienna, a city whose artistic chaos made it an extraordinary place to live. In his early career he received a public commission to paint a series of frescos, and received the “Gold Cross for Artistic Merit” for his Burgtheater murals. However, his name is most enduringly linked to the Viennese Secession. This revolutionary movement separated itself definitively from public, academic art.

The atmosphere of Klimt’s Nuda Veritas could be likened to the slow languor of Strauss’s operas or to the theatre productions of Schnitzler. His paintings and the few of his drawings that were not destroyed by fire demonstrate a sensuality of rare delicacy. For Klimt, “All art is erotic”, whether expressed through the extravagant Byzantine decoration of his Judith I, or through pure nudity. Great Masters Klimt brings together his finest and most popular paintings, which are particularly well suited to the series’ unique presentation of details, along with a text that demonstrates the extraordinary eclecticism of this great artist. In a small and practical format, this title will be the ideal gift.