@matthewsgallery / matthewsgallery.tumblr.com
Self Portrait - Egon Schiele 1906
Schiele, made immortal in this self-portrait.
Gustav Klimt, c.1905-06, Country Garden with Sunflowers
"All art is erotic." -Klimt
There's something sensual in these flowers. It's almost like you could trace out one of Klimt's figures in the tangle...
Gustav Klimt ~ "Medicine" (concept), 1897
The painting, Die Medizin (Kompositionsentwurf), is an 1897–98 study for one of a series of massive, controversial paintings the artist was commissioned to create for the ceiling of the Great Hall at the University of Vienna by Austria’s Ministry of Culture and Education in 1894.
The three finished works were never displayed in the hall, due to their purportedly pornographic content, and were destroyed by retreating German forces as World War II drew to a close in 1945. The Die Medizin study, characterized by its unique blend of neo-Baroque and Secessionist aesthetics, is the only extant version of any of the three panels. <source>
So glad this survived, at the very least...
“Half-Length Portrait of a Laughing Girl”, Gustav Klimt.
"I'm a painter who paints day in day out, from morning til evening - figure pictures and landscapes, more rarely portraits." -Gustav Klimt
The rare portrait!
Born on this day (07/14/1862): Gustav Klimt.
“Love”, 1895.
Happy birthday, Klimt!
Gustav Klimt, Pallas Athene, 1898, oil on canvas and inlay, 75 x 75 cm, Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien, Vienna.
Despite being a huge fan of the Symbolists, I hadn’t come across Klimt’s Pallas Athene before. It was only when my good friend mentioned it the other day that I looked it up - and I’m so glad I did. Klimt has typically used plenty of gold to represent the armour of strong and determined Athena, though the effect is less reminiscent of some of his famous gold works (think The Kiss and Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer), and more like the metallic sheen of Judith and the Head of Holofernes.
Gorgeous.
Our very own art collection socks are currently featured over on Vogue.com! Stylist Kate Brien together with photographer David Kitz put together a gorgeous photo series. Kate paired our socks with sandals from her own collection, which you may recognize from her blog View from the Topp. Take a look!
Gustav Klimt's studio in Hietzing, Vienna, c.1918 and 2013 (after restoration).
via tierradentro
Gustav Klimt at his Deathbed (detail), 1918. Drawing by Egon Schiele. Taken by tierradentro at the Leopold Museum, Vienna.
Portraits of women by Gustav Klimt after 1900 almost resemble mosaics. The term AESTHETIC DECORATION is used mostly to describe this. It’s use means that there is no reference to the sitter’s location, family, interests, etc, as mainly their hands, face and decolletage are the only things peeking out of the geometrical patterns that surround them.
It is possible to read the portraits as the sitters being marooned from the world and many scholars have noted that the overt use of aesthetic decoration symbolizes the isolation felt by Klimt, and how he had withdrawn into himself and his art shortly after he renounced the University of Vienna commission in 1904.
Gustav Klimt, Judith and Holopherne, 1901, o/c
ABOUT THE IMAGE: In this painting we have the reference of two characters, Judith and Holopherne (or Holofernes). Their stories is as follows; during a war Judith, a widow, gained access to Holophernes tent because he desired her. She gets him drunk and when he passes out, she cuts off his head and sneaks out of his camp with the help of her faithful maiden. For women she is a hero for her strength and valor, to men she is a temptress and a seductress. Can you guess how Klimt painted her? If you said seductress you are right! If Judith looked like this, what man wouldn’t want her in their tent? She has this whole “Come hither and I’ll make your night worth while” look going for her, until you look in the corner of the canvas and see that she is in fact carrying the severed head of Holopherne. You then start to see this whole image in a new way, is she seducing the viewer or is she being seduced by the rush of the act she has just committed?
SONG: Maneater (Nelly Furtado)
TALK BACK: Do you think Klimt’s depiction is of someone who is seductive or of someone who has been seduced by their actions?
“Sea Serpents IV" (detail), Gustav Klimt.
“I have never painted a self-portrait. I am less interested in myself as a subject for a painting than I am in other people, above all women…There is nothing special about me."
