KLIMT GUSTAW

Gustav Klimt's art is thoroughly fin de siecle. It expresses theapocalyptic atmosphere of Vienna's upper middle-class society - a societydevoted to the cultivation of aesthetic awareness and the cult ofpleasure. The ecstatic joy which Klimt and his contemporaries found - orhoped to find - in beauty was constantly overshadowed by death. And deaththerefore plays an important role in Klimt's art. Klimt's fame, however,rests on his reputation as one of the greatest erotic painters and graphicartists of his times. In particular, his drawings, which have been widelyadmired for their artistic excellence, are dominated by the eroticportrayal of women. Klimt saw the world "in female form".