Gustav Klimt at a glance

Klimt used real gold leaf because his father was a gold engraver, and the material became central to his Golden Phase. He layered it onto canvases like the Byzantine mosaics he had studied in Ravenna, turning flat surfaces into shimmering, jewel-like patterns that made portraits feel almost sacred.

Klimt drew on Symbolism, Art Nouveau, and the Vienna Secession he co-founded in 1897, but his most visible influence came from Byzantine mosaics he saw in Ravenna. Japanese art also shaped his flattened, patterned compositions, pushing him away from the realistic style he had trained in.

No, Klimt also painted landscapes and gardens, especially around the Attersee lake where he spent his summers. These square-format scenes dropped the gold leaf for thick, textured brushwork inspired partly by Van Gogh, giving him a quieter outlet away from the portraits and allegories that made him famous.

Klimt's paintings were considered controversial mainly because of their frank eroticism and nudity, most notably his ceiling paintings for the University of Vienna, which critics called pornographic. The backlash was so strong that he stopped accepting public commissions and never publicly exhibited those works again.