Klimt, Gustav

(born July 14, 1862, Vienna, Austria—died Feb. 6, 1918, Vienna) Austrian painter. In 1897, after a period as an academic muralist, his mature style emerged. Revolting against academic art in favour of a decorative style similar to Art Nouveau, he founded the Vienna Sezession. His most successful works include The Kiss (1908) and a series of portraits of fashionable Vienna matrons. In these works he treated the human figure without shadow, conveying the sensuality of skin by surrounding it with areas of flat, highly ornamental areas of decoration. His later murals are characterized by precisely linear drawing and flat, decorative patterns of colour and gold leaf. He greatly influenced Oskar Kokoschka and Egon Schiele. See also Jugendstil.

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