Gustav Klimt
1862 13th July: born to the goldsmith and engraver Ernst Klimt (1832-1894) and his wife Anna Finster, in Baumgarten, a suburb of Vienna. Second of seven children.
1876 Accepted as a special student with a scholarship at the Kunstgewerbeschule des Österreichischen Museums. Two years of preparatory classes with Rieser, Minningerode and Krachowina later studies with Ferdinand Laufberger.
1879 Collaborates with Hans Makart, another leading Viennese historical painter.
1881 Death of Laufenberger. Continues studies under Berger.
1882 Executes works for Karlsbad and Reichenberg with his younger brother Ernst Klimt and Franz Matsch.
1883 Moves into own studio with Matsch and his brother Ernst (Sandwirthgasse 8, Vienna). Many decorative works and commissions follow.
1885 Decorates Empress Elisabeth’s study at Hermesvilla.
1886 Begins work on the ceiling paintings for the Wiener Burgtheater.
1888 Ceiling painting completed. Awarded Kaiserpreis.
1891 Executes spandrels and panels between columns on the stairway of Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
1892 Death of his younger brother Ernst.
1893 Joins Wiener Künstlergesellschaft.
1894 Leaves Matsch with whom he had received the commision for allegorical paintings of the faculties of Philosophy, Medicine and Jurisprudence for the ceiling of the assembly hall of University of Vienna. Moves studio to Josefstrasse, Vienna. Otto Wagner writes Moderne Architectur.
1896 First digns of dissatisfaction of the younger artists with the conservative forces in the Society of Austrian Artists. Executes Portrait of Marie Breunig, friend of Emilie Flöge. Meets architect Josef Hoffmann often in the Siebener Klub.
1897 3rd April: formation of a separate group of the younger generation within the Künstlerhausgenossenschaft. 25th May: during its second meeting the group declares its independence. Foundation of the Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs, Secession. Klimt becomes its first president. Begins work on the faculty panels.
1898 March: first exhibition of the Secession in rooms of the Wiener Gartenbaugesellschaft. Klimt’s poster Theseus is objected to on moral grounds and changed. Beginning of Secession’s publication, Ver Sacrum. Executes painting for Palais Dumba and symbolist works such as Pallas Athena. Summers from now on spent mostly at Attersee.
1900 First faculty painting, Philosophy, causes scandal at 7th Spring exhibition of the Secession. Faculty at the Unversity protests against the installation of the paintings. Wickhoff defends Klimt in a lecture. In the autumn the work receives the Medaille d’Honneur at the Paris World Exhibition.
1901 Even greater scandal caused by the second faculty picture, Medicine, in the Secession’s 10th Spring exhibition. 19th March: sixth edition of the Ver Sacrum containing sketches for the painting is confiscated. 21st March: confiscation rescinded; parliamentary investigation of Klimt begins the same day. 23rd March: Klimt interviewed for the Wiener Morgenzeitung. Hermann Bahr publishes Rede über Klimt. Participates in International Art Exhibition in Dresden. First signs of his popularity in Germany. At the end of the year, Klimt is nominated for professorship at Viennese Academy. Klimt and his friends suggest exhibition of Max Klinger’s statue of Beethoven with symbolic freezes.
1902 April-June, Secession’s Beethoven exhibition. Paints his friend Emilie Flöge and designs dresses for her fashion studio.
1903 Trip to Ravenna inspires stronger mosaic quality in his pointillist paintings. Klimt’s group in the Secession organises a large Hödler’s exhibition; Hödler’s international reputation subsequently increases greatly. Bahr publishes Gegen Klimt in defense of the Faculty pictures. November-December: larger exhibition of Klimt’s works in the Secession (18th exhibition). First signs of tension within the Secession; foundation of the Wiener Werkstätte. Last year of publication of Ver Sacrum. Paints portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.
1904 Klimt leaves the Secession with the Stilisten group comprisisng Auchentaller, Bernatzik, Bühm, Hölzel, Hoffmann, Jäger, Kurzweil, List, Luksch, Metzner, Moll, Orlik, Roller, Wagner. Hoffmann is commissioned for the Stoclet Palace in Brussels. Klimt and the Wiener Werkstätte designs frieze for the dining hall.
1905 Klimt reclaims the faculty paintings after writing a letter of protest to the Ministry of Education. Final break from official commissions. Government vetoes his appointment to professorship. Trip to Berlin, where he is awarded and declines Villa Romana Prize. Paints Three Ages of Woman. Van Gogh exhibited at the Miethke Gallery.
1906 Trip to Brussels and London in connection with the Stoclet Frieze. Hevsi publishes 8 Jahre Secession with many articles about Klimt. Changes in the faculty panels. Paints Portrait of Fritza Riedler.
1907 Exhibition of the final faculty panels in the Miethke Gallery in Vienna and the Keller and Reiner Gallery in Berlin. Illustrations for the Hetärengespräche. Meets and encourages the young Egon Schiele. Finishes the painting of Danae.
1908 Wiener Kunstschau 1908 exhibition given by the Klimt group in a temporary building designed by Josef Hoffmann. Opening address by Klimt, he shows 16 new paintings. The ..Österreichische Staatsgalerie buys The Kiss. Gold medal awarded to Death and Life in Rome. Miethke Gallery announces publication of Gustav Klimt’s Das Werk.
1909 Wiener Kunstschau 1909 exhibition shows Klimt’s Old Woman and works by Schiele, Kokoschka, Munch Corinth, Bonnard, Vuillard, Matisse, Gaugin and Van Gogh. Begins work on the Stoclet Frieze. Travels to Paris in October.
1910 Moves away from the ‘golden style’. Included in the 9th International Exhibition in Venice.
1911 Stoclet Frieze installed in Brussels. Travels to Rome; his wok is exhibited within the Austrian section at the International Art Exhibition. Three Ages of Woman is purchased by the Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rome. Repaints Death and Life. Paints the Schloss Kammer on the Attersee during the Summer.
1912 Paints the second portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer and Mäda Primavesi. Weixlgärtner publishes important article in Die Graphischen Kunste.
1913 Finishes The Virgin. Summer spent at Lake Garda.
1916 Travels to Moravia in Spring. Finishes the portrait of Friedrike Maria Beer.
1917 Nominated for an honorary Professorship at the Vienna Academy.
1918 Girlfriends, Adam amd Eve and The Bride left unfinished.
10th January: Gustav Klimt dies in Vienna.
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