Who were the shy women and libertines who inspired and posed for Gustav Klimt

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In the life of the famous Austrian artist there were hundreds of women: rich wives of the Viennese elite and poor prostitutes, acquaintances for many years and casual. He is credited with up to 40 illegitimate children. Each canvas of the painting innovator is saturated with thick and powerful eroticism. In all the paintings there are only women. He wrote his favorite models many times. However, the only relationship he carried through his entire life was most likely platonic. He painted this woman only twice, and she sincerely hated her portraits by the great Klimt.

Gustav Klimt did not paint self-portraits in principle. He considered his appearance unremarkable and not worthy of his own brush. Indeed, photographs from the beginning of the 20th century convey to us the image of not the most interesting, albeit slightly eccentric man. Despite this, legends circulated about his many novels in Vienna. As a true artist, Klimt fell in love with almost every model and knew how to achieve reciprocity. Almost any of his paintings is a story, if not of love, then of undoubted desire.

The early period of the artist's work is distinguished by the almost photographic accuracy of the figures on the canvases. The gallery of works written in the classical manner made him popular, but over time, it seems, such painting bored the master.

Over time, he was more and more captured by the Art Nouveau style, and along with this, the paintings became more and more frank and shocking. In 1898, the capital of Austria literally exploded with delight and horror. Under the leadership of Gustav Klimt, the first exhibition of the Vienna Secession took place - an independent association of artists who broke with the traditional manner of painting. Klimt himself exhibited Philosophy, one of three allegorical paintings commissioned for him to decorate the University of Vienna.

The reaction to the painting was an indignant letter from 87 professors, in which they condemned this "pornographic" painting and demanded that the order be taken from Klimt. However, the artist, who gained economic freedom thanks to a series of portraits of the wives of wealthy patrons, later writes only what he wants. This series of "ceremonial canvases", although notable for its modesty, still bears the stamp of incredible admiration for female beauty.

The ladies in his portraits did not become incredible beauties, the artist never deviated from his photographic accuracy, but acquired some elusive scent of the female essence, which made Klimt so popular. It is not surprising that the line of customers to his workshop has never run out. However, the master continues to shock the audience. The next shocking work is The Naked Truth - vulgar and sensual, clearly not written from a noble matron.

The public exploded once again. The artist was offered to be tried, expelled from the country and castrated. It is known that at his next exhibition the famous collector Count Laskoronski, holding his head, repeated several times "What a horror". The master himself, in response, wrote a canvas entitled "To My Critics". The foreground part of the body needs no comment. Later, the painting was given a more modest title "Goldfish".

It is believed that many of his models were prostitutes, which is why the poses of women in the paintings are so naturally frank. Memories of contemporaries have survived about how an eccentric artist created a real oriental seraglio in his studio. Several nude models walked freely around the room, talked or lay, and the master himself, in an ancient Greek tunic and sandals, worked on the canvas. Sometimes he shouted to some model "Freeze!" and quickly sketched. Several thousand of these sketches have survived.

However, the artist, bathed in his irrepressible sexuality, continued to develop. His fans were waiting for the next "golden" period of creativity and a new model, which became a favorite for many years.

The wife of a wealthy entrepreneur Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer was described by contemporaries as follows:

If the husband of the magnificent Adele had doubts about the relationship between his wife and the famous artist, then after the first incredibly sensual "Judith" they could hardly have stayed.

These paintings became the golden fund of world painting in the literal and figurative sense (the artist used gold leaf to create them). And "Golden Adele" has become one of the most expensive paintings of our time.

Surprisingly, for almost his entire life, there was a woman next to the loving genius, who is called his most important muse and great affection. Emilia Flege was friends with Klimt, supported and inspired him from the very beginning of his career - from the early 1890s, when her sister married the artist's brother. The famous painter painted only a couple of her portraits. The most famous one, which Emilia herself terribly disliked.

It is not known for sure whether their relationship moved into physical intimacy or remained platonic (most researchers are inclined to this), but it is undoubted that this woman was the closest person to Gustav Klimt. The last words of the dying artist were the phrase "Send for Emilia!"

The model for the most famous painting by Gustav Klimt "The Kiss" is unknown. It is believed that on it, as a male figure, the artist depicted, if not himself, then his own experiences and emotions. But the female image, quite possibly, belongs to his most faithful muse Emilia Flleg. This painting, filled with incredible inner energy, has become a real hymn of love and gathers crowds of pilgrims today. Surprisingly, for Gustav Klimt, who willingly painted nudity all his life, she also became one of the most chaste.

For most artists, female beauty remains an inexhaustible source of inspiration. An example is the luxurious "women of Alphonse Mucha": masterpieces of the Czech modernist artist, creator of "art for all"