Works by Gustav Klimt

The Large Poplar Tree I

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

1900

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance

Magda Grasmayr née Mautner Markhof 1901 1944
Klaus Grasmayr 1944, by descent
European Private Collector, by descent
Sotheby's, London, October 6, 1999, consigned by the above, "The German & Austrian Art Sale," sale no. L0956, lot 110
Private Collection, New York 1999 2012, acquired at the above sale
Neue Galerie New York, 2012, received as a donation from the above

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Neue Galerie New York. This work is part of the collection of Estée Lauder and was made available through the generosity of Estée Lauder
Accession Number:
EL.196
Fable
Fable

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

1883

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance

Design for Allegorien und Embleme, no. 75a
Wien Museum, Purchase, Verlag Gerlach & Schenk, 1901

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Photo: Birgit and Peter Kainz, Wien Museum
Accession Number:
Idyll
Idyll

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

1884

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance

Design for Allegorien und Embleme, no. 75a
Wien Museum, Purchase, Verlag Gerlach & Schenk, 1901

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Photo: Birgit and Peter Kainz, Wien Museum
Accession Number:
Reproduction of Sunflower
Reproduction of Sunflower

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

1907-1908

Medium:

Collotype with gold intaglio

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance

Printer: K. K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei
First Publisher: H. O. Miethke, 1908-14
Reissued: Hugo Heller Kunstverlag, 1918
Neue Galerie New York

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Accession Number:
Pear Tree
Pear Tree (Pear Trees), 1903

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

1903

Medium:

Oil and casein on canvas

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance

Harvard Art Museums / Busch-Reisinger Museum, Gift of Otto Kallir

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Accession Number:
Seated Man and Standing Woman (Schubert and Singer)

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

ca. 1896

Medium:

Black crayon on paper

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance


Galerie Wolfgang Gurlitt, Munich, by the late 1940s until at least 1962
Mr. and Mrs. Lester Francis Avnet, New York, by 1970
Sotheby Parke Bernet, November 8, 1979, lot 724
Private Collection
Galerie St. Etienne, New York, 2005, acquired from the above
Neue Galerie New York, March 2005, acquired from the above

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Neue Galerie New York
Accession Number:
2005.02
Adele Bloch-Bauer, Seated in an Armchair Facing Left

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

1903

Medium:

Charcoal and chalk on paper

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance

Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, 1938, probably acquired from the artist, seized by the Nazis
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, after World War II
Heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, July 1999, restituted by the Austrian Government
Galerie St. Etienne, New York
Neue Galerie New York, April 2000, acquired from the above

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Neue Galerie New York
Accession Number:
2000.03
Two Standing Women Holding Sheet Music

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

1899

Medium:

Black crayon on paper

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance


L'Art Ancien, Zurich, by 1980
Estelle M. Konheim, New York, 1980, acquired from the above
Robert Peter Miller Gallery, New York
Private Collection
Galerie St. Etienne, New York, 2005, acquired from the above
Neue Galerie New York, March 2005, acquired from the above

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Neue Galerie New York
Accession Number:
2005.01
Pale Face

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

1903

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance

Gustav Klimt, 1903 to 1905 or 1906
Galerie Miethke, Vienna, May 1905 or 1906, consigned by the above
Hans Böhler, Vienna, September 24, 1906, acquired from the above
Galerie Neumann, Vienna 1955 1956, probably consigned by the above
Bruce Goff, Kansas City 1956 1981, acquired from the above
Galerie St. Etienne, New York, 1981, acquired from the above
Private Collection, New York, September 1981 2012, acquired from the above
Neue Galerie New York, 2012, received as a donation from the above

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Neue Galerie New York. This work is part of the collection of Estée Lauder and was made available through the generosity of Estée Lauder
Accession Number:
EL.41
Adele Bloch-Bauer, Seated in an Armchair Facing Forward, Resting Her Temple on Her Right Hand

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

1903-04

Medium:

Charcoal on tan wove paper

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance

Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, 1938, probably acquired from the artist, seized from by the Nazis
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, after World War II
Heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, July 1999, restituted by the Austrian Government
Galerie St. Etienne, New York
Neue Galerie New York, April 2000, acquired from the above

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Neue Galerie New York
Accession Number:
2000.07
Adele Bloch-Bauer, Standing in Three-Quarter Profile, Facing Left

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

1903

Medium:

Charcoal on tan wove paper

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance

Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, 1938, probably acquired from the artist, seized from by the Nazis
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, after World War II
Heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, July 1999, restituted by the Austrian Government
Galerie St. Etienne, New York
Neue Galerie New York, April 2000, acquired from the above

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Neue Galerie New York
Accession Number:
2000.04
Adele Bloch-Bauer, Seated in Three-Quarter Profile Facing Right

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

1903

Medium:

Chalk on tan wove paper

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance

Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, 1938, probably acquired from the artist, seized from by the Nazis
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, after World War II
Heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, July 1999, restituted by the Austrian Government
Galerie St. Etienne, New York
Neue Galerie New York, April 2000, acquired from the above

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Neue Galerie New York
Accession Number:
2000.08
Adele Bloch-Bauer, Seated in an Armchair, Facing Slightly Right

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

1903

Medium:

Charcoal on tan wove paper

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance

Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, 1938, probably acquired from the artist, seized from by the Nazis
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, after World War II
Heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, July 1999, restituted by the Austrian Government
Galerie St. Etienne, New York
Neue Galerie New York, April 2000, acquired from the above

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Neue Galerie New York
Accession Number:
2000.05
Poster for the first Vienna Secession exhibition

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

1898

Medium:

Color lithograph

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance

Christian M. Nebehay, Vienna
Neue Galerie New York, 2004, acquired from the above

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Neue Galerie New York
Accession Number:
2004.10
Adele Bloch-Bauer I

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

1907

Medium:

Oil, silver, and gold on canvas

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance

Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, 1907 until autumn 1938, acquired from the artist, until seized by the Nazis
With Dr. Erich Führer, Vienna, by 1939
Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, 1941, inv. no. 3830
Heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, 2006, restituted by the Republic of Austria
Neue Galerie New York, 2006, acquired from the above

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Neue Galerie New York. Acquired through the generosity of Ronald S. Lauder, the Heirs of the Estates of Ferdinand and Adele Bloch-Bauer, and the Estée Lauder Fund
Accession Number:
2006.04
Adele Bloch-Bauer, Standing Facing Forward

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

1903

Medium:

Charcoal on cream wove paper

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance

Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, 1938, probably acquired from the artist, seized from by the Nazis
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, after World War II
Heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, July 1999, restituted by the Austrian Government
Galerie St. Etienne, New York
Neue Galerie New York, April 2000, acquired from the above

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Neue Galerie New York
Accession Number:
2000.06
Adele Bloch-Bauer, with Hat and Handbag, to the Right a Copy of the Figure

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

1911

Medium:

Pencil on cream wove paper

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance

Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, 1938, probably acquired from the artist, seized from by the Nazis
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, after World War II
Heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, July 1999, restituted by the Austrian Government
Galerie St. Etienne, New York
Neue Galerie New York, April 2000, acquired from the above

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Neue Galerie New York
Accession Number:
2000.10
Emilie Flöge wearing a reform dress

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

1906

Medium:

Vintage gelatin silver print

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance

Christian Brandstätter, Vienna
Asenbaum Fine Arts, London
Neue Galerie New York, 2002, acquired from the above

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Neue Galerie New York
Accession Number:
2002.04
Adele Bloch-Bauer, Costume Study with Bell-Shaped Skirt

Artist:

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Date:

1903-04

Medium:

Violet-colored pencil on cream wove paper

Classification:

Fine Arts

Provenance

Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, 1938, probably acquired from the artist, seized from by the Nazis
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, after World War II
Heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, July 1999, restituted by the Austrian Government
Galerie St. Etienne, New York
Neue Galerie New York, April 2000, acquired from the above

Additional Details

Cedit line:
Neue Galerie New York
Accession Number:
2000.09
Gustav Klimt
b. 1862, Baumgarten
d. 1918, Vienna

Gustav Klimt was born on July 14, 1862 in the outskirts of Vienna in Baumgarten. He was the second of seven children born to Anna and Ernst Klimt, a metal engraver. In October 1876, Gustav was accepted at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts). The following year Gustav’s brother, Ernst, joined him at the Kunstgewerbeschule. They both intended to become drawing teachers.

After graduation from the Kunstgewerbeschule in 1883, Gustav and Ernst Klimt joined fellow painter Franz Matsch to set up their own studio, and formed the Künstler-Compagnie (Artists’ Company). They agreed to work in the historicist style, without stylistic differences, and with the allowance that one would take over another’s work should he be unable to complete it. They quickly attracted commissions throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany, Switzerland, and the Balkans. In 1886, the Künstler-Compagnie received its first significant commission: to paint the ceiling for two staircases of Vienna’s newly constructed Burgtheater. Emperor Franz Joseph I was pleased with the work.

In 1890, Gustav moved to Westbahnhofstrasse 36, where he lived for the rest of his life with his unmarried sisters Klara and Hermine, and his mother Anna. Both Klimt brothers and Matsch joined the leading and conservative Künstlerhausgenossenschaft (Vienna Artists’ Association) also in 1890. Gustav’s brother Ernst married Helene Flöge in 1891 and Gustav painted his first portrait of her sister, Emilie, that same year.

Klimt never married, although he enjoyed discreet affairs with numerous models and was involved in a long, platonic relationship with his sister-in-law Emilie Flöge, who was a reform fashion designer. Klimt followed the same routine every day and was rarely seen in the midst of Viennese culture, despite the fact that he was the central figure of fin-de-siècle Viennese art scene at the time. There would come to be a contradiction in how he conducted his private life and how his work was accepted.

The Künstler-Compagnie moved into a studio at Josefstädter Strasse 21 in 1892. This remained Gustav’s studio until 1912. Gustav’s father died on July 13, 1892. His brother Ernst died on December 9 of the same year, and Gustav was appointed the guardian of his daughter, Helene Luise Klimt. The Künstler-Compagnie gradually dissolved around this time due to the death of Ernst Klimt and to the stylistic development of Gustav.

Klimt and Matsch received a commission in 1894 to prepare sketches for the ceiling paintings of the Great Hall of the University of Vienna. Klimt was assigned PhilosophyMedicine, and Jurisprudence. Matsch was responsible for Theology and the central painting. The assignment was fraught with difficulties from the beginning, as Klimt and Matsch no longer worked in a similar style. The so-called faculty paintings commission would prove to be a turning point in Klimt’s career, even though any resolution would be drawn out for at least a decade.

Concurrent with his work on the faculty paintings, Klimt and twenty other artists resigned from the Künstlerhausgenossenschaft in 1897 and founded the Vereinigung bildender Künstler Österreichs (Union of Austrian Artists or Vienna Secession). Klimt was named the first president. Klimt, along with Josef Hoffmann and Carl Moll, were responsible for the exhibition programming at the Secession until 1905. Also in 1897, Klimt and Emilie Flöge began what became a lifelong correspondence. Klimt started spending his summers with the Flöge family and took up landscape painting.

At the Seventh Secession exhibition held from March 8-June 6, 1900, Klimt presented his first faculty painting, Philosophy, in an unfinished state. The exhibition attracted 35,000 visitors and the painting created a scandal. Eighty-seven professors signed a petition requesting that it not be installed in the University’s Great Hall, while only a dozen wrote in support of the work. The furor was caused because Klimt’s symbolism was not clear and some felt the topic was beyond his intellectual range. Klimt was vindicated when the painting was shown at the Exposition Universelle held in Paris that year when he was awarded a Gold Medal (Grand Prix) for the painting.

Klimt’s second faculty painting, Medicine, was shown at the Tenth Vienna Secession exhibition held from March 15-May 12, 1901. This also caused protests, in part because he did not acknowledge that medicine provided any healing powers.

For the Fourteenth Secession exhibition, which took place from April 15-June 27, 1902, Klimt created the Beethoven frieze. Like much of his work, it was greeted by both enthusiasm and protests.

In 1903, Klimt visited Venice and Ravenna, once in May and again at the end of the year. The early Byzantine mosaics of San Vitale made a lasting impression on him, and their influence was reflected in the development of his “golden style.” It was at this time that he began his so-called “golden-period.” The “golden style” is noteworthy for the use of gold and sometimes silver leaf. There is a sense of horror vacui as almost all surfaces are ornately covered, frequently with geometric or floral elements. The figure takes on the quality of an icon and often appears to inhabit multiple environments. One of the most superb examples of Klimt’s “golden style” is his 1907 portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.

In May of 1903, the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshops) was founded by Hoffmann, Koloman Moser, and Fritz Waerndorfer. Several Klimt paintings were on permanent display there. Many clients of Klimt were also patrons of the Secession and the Wiener Werkstätte.

The Ministry of Education ultimately approved Klimt’s faculty paintings. However, due to the artistic differences between Klimt’s and Matsch’s works, it was suggested that Klimt’s be displayed not at the University Great Hall but in the Moderne Galerie. In the fall of 1903, the Secession staged the largest exhibition of Klimt’s works, called the Klimt Kollektive (Klimt Collective), presenting eighty works. It included the three faculty paintings which were shown together for the first time. In early April 1905 Klimt officially withdrew from the University of Vienna faculty commission. The paintings were returned to him and he gave back his fee with the assistance of his patron August Lederer. Lederer received Philosophy in exchange. Koloman Moser acquired the other two paintings some years later. They were all transferred to Schloss Immendorf for safekeeping during the war and unfortunately were lost during a fire in 1945.

In June 1905, the Vienna Secession split into two groups after prolonged differences of opinion among its members. One group rallied around Josef Engelhart and the other was dubbed the Klimt-Gruppe. This same year, Klimt received the commission to create the dining room frieze for the Palais Stoclet. He traveled to Brussels in 1906 to meet with Adolphe Stoclet.

The Klimt-Gruppe artists organized the 1908 Kunstschau (Art Show) in Vienna, presenting their work in an improvised exhibition hall designed by Hoffmann. The center of the exhibition was the Klimt Room, with sixteen paintings, including The Kiss, which was acquired by the Moderne Galerie, and the 1907 portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer. The following year the Klimt-Gruppe artists staged a second temporary exhibition, which was international in scope.

In 1910, Klimt completed his designs for the Palais Stoclet frieze, which were executed by the Wiener Werkstätte, but he did not see them installed until 1914. The last ten years of his life were focused almost exclusively on landscapes and portraits, almost entirely all of women.

On January 11, 1918, Klimt suffered a stroke while at home that left him paralyzed on his right side. He was admitted to the Fürth Sanatorium and later moved to the Allgemeine Krankenhaus (General Hospital). Egon Schiele closely followed his state of health. Klimt died at the hospital on the morning of February 6 following a lung infection.

Klimt as a person was something of an enigma. He did not keep a diary or make remarks about his work, but he did leave an undated statement:

“I can paint and draw. ... Only two things are certain. 1) I have never painted a self-portrait. I am less interested in myself as a subject for painting than I am in other people, above all women. But other subjects interest me even more. I am convinced that I am not particularly interesting as a person. There is nothing special about me. I am a painter who paints day after day from morning until night. Figures and landscapes, portraits less often. 2) I have the gift of neither the spoken nor the written word, especially if I have to say something about myself or my work. .... Whoever wants to know something about me -- as an artist, the only notable thing -- ought to look carefully at my pictures and try to see in them what I am and what I want to do.”