Gustav Klimt

I may be a little late on the uptake on this one, however I believe this a necessary post none the less. This past February marked the 90th aniversary of the passing of Gustav Klimt. Klimt was one of the most influencial artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. He is noted as an instrumental contributor to the Vienna Succession, an artistic movement which in my opinion shaped the direction of art for year to come. He and his followers broke away from the past conventions of art as being "pretty." Painters had become contractors to beautify the home and little more. Klimt rejected this idea, and began painting what he saw as reality. He was very unpopular in his own time simply because his work was not nice to look at. Famously he was contracted to produce a series of paintings for a European university. After completing the first, entitled Philosophy (shown left), he was fired. Philosophy was free from order and convention and generally reflected the philosophical views of the time. The black circle with a face in it at the bottom of the page represents knowledge and the inherent separation between it and true philosophy, an unpopular view of the time. Instead of being celebrated as an acheivement in transfering truth onto canvas, it was rejected as pornographic, ugly, and ambiguous. Many years later, artists now revere Klimts work as innovative and in some ways as a savior to the sanctity of fine art. He broke down limits, and did away with the artistic restraint imposed by the conventions of the society of the day. For those who wish to learn more, he leaves us with this quote: "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."