Top 100 - The 100 famous paintings by Gustav Klimt
The 100 famous paintings by Gustav Klimt
From the gold of the Secession to the square landscapes of the Attersee
This route brings together one hundred paintings available at Alpha Reproduction to follow Gustav Klimt beyond his golden icons. The ranking favors the most famous works, then broadens the view to series, years of training and the latest colorful research.
Gold meets nerves
One hundred paintings, Vienna changes skin
Gustav Klimt's 100 famous paintings first tell of a Viennese rupture. Trained in great historicist decorations, Klimt mastered official painting perfectly before participating in the founding of the Secession in 1897. Pallas Athena, Nuda Veritas and the Beethoven Frieze are therefore not the essays of a beginner: they are the declarations of a recognized artist who decides to move the rules of the exhibition, the subject and the surface.
Klimt covers the desire for gold, pattern portraits and flower landscapes until surface and depth stop arguing. Even its trees appear to have frequented a mosaic workshop.Switch to images
Classification in images
The Kiss, the two portraits of Adèle Bloch-Bauer, Judith, Danaé, the Stoclet Frieze and the Beethoven Frieze open the route.
#1
The Kiss
Two entwined figures occupy almost the entire square, kneeling at the edge of a flowery meadow which seems to interrupt itself under their feet. The man's coat is punctuated with black and white rectangles; the woman's dress, colorful circles and spirals. The faces and hands retain their shape while the gold dissolves the rest of the bodies in a common surface. Painted in 1908-1909, The Kiss strikes a balance between carnal presence and icon.
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#2
Portrait of Adèle Bloch-Bauer I
Adèle emerges from a field of gold where dress, armchair and background become almost impossible to separate. Her face, shoulders and joined hands remain naturalistic, surrounded by eyes, triangles, spirals and motifs borrowed from ancient arts. Klimt worked for several years on this commission completed in 1907. The image also owes its fame to its history: despoiled under Nazism, returned to the Bloch-Bauer heirs in 2006, it is today the central work of the Neue Galerie.
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#3
Judith I
Judith stands in front of a gold background, her bust uncovered, her eyes half-closed and her mouth half-open. Holofernes' head only appears partly in the lower right corner: the biblical account is kept to a minimum to focus the image on an ambiguous, victorious and sensual presence. A large necklace almost separates the face from the body, while the stylized trees flatten the space. In 1901, Klimt transformed the moral heroine into a modern figure of the power of the gaze.
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#4
Portrait of Adèle Bloch-Bauer II
Five years after the first portrait, Adèle appears standing in a light dress, in front of a brightly colored decor where carpets, flowers and Asian silhouettes multiply the shots. Gold no longer organizes the entire surface: roses, greens and blues produce a brighter and more unstable tension. The long format accentuates the elegance of the model but the face remains reserved. Completed in 1912, this second portrait shows how Klimt gradually left his golden period without giving up ornament.
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#5
Danae
Danaé folds into an almost square format, her thighs pulled against her bust and red hair occupying the upper corner. The golden rain through which Zeus the Fertile crosses the purple veils and circular motifs. Klimt describes neither room nor successive story: the myth is condensed into a closed form, at once sleep, abandonment and metamorphosis. Produced in 1907-1908, the work pushes the association of eroticism and ornament to the point of making their separation impossible.
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#6
The Tree of Life, Stoclet frieze
A central trunk unfolds in golden spirals laden with flowers, eyes and birds. What is reproduced as a standalone painting is actually a full-size cardboard workmanship for the mosaic in the dining room of the Stoclet Palace in Brussels. The network of branches connects the panels of Waiting and Accomplishment into a single decorative environment. Designed around 1910-1911, The Tree of Life shows Klimt working on the scale of architecture and total artwork.
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#7
The Beethoven Friesland
On three walls, floating figures lead the gaze of a suffering humanity towards the knight, the hostile powers and finally the embrace accompanied by the choir of the Ninth Symphony. Klimt created the frieze in 1902 for the fourteenth Secession exhibition, designed as a collective tribute to Beethoven. Destined to disappear, the work was saved, cut out then reinstalled. Its expressive lines and gold already announce the artist's most famous period.
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#8
Life and Death
On the left, Death advances alone, wrapped in a blue cloak strewn with crosses; on the right, the ages and states of life aggregate into a mass of bodies, flowers and ornaments. The empty space between the two groups makes their confrontation stronger than any story. Begun in 1910-1911 then deeply taken up, particularly in the background and figure of Death, the work summarizes Klimt's capacity to give a decorative form to the fundamental tensions of existence.
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#9
The Three Ages of Women
A mother closes her eyes against her sleeping child while an old woman, separated from the group, hides her face in her hand. Light skin stands out from a screen of colorful patterns, itself suspended in front of a dark and almost empty background. Klimt refuses a narrative progression: childhood, motherhood and old age coexist in the same image. Painted in 1905, the allegory combines tenderness and awareness of time without converting one into consolation for the other.
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#10
Water Snakes II
Four women stretch out in a length of water where hair, flowers, fish and fabrics merge. The bodies retain their volume, but the decorative current carries them into a surface without horizon. Worked between 1904 and 1907, the work belongs to Klimt's research on a feminine sensuality removed from the masculine gaze represented. Its modern history is darker: dispossession, sales and restitution agreements remind us that the circulation of a masterpiece is also part of his reading.
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#11
Pallas Athena
Athena faces the viewer, helmeted and armored, holding a small figure of Nuda Veritas in her hand. The face remains alive, but the golden armor, the metal frame and the archaic frieze transform it into an emblem. Painted in 1898, a year after the founding of the Viennese Secession of which she became a tutelary figure, the work affirms a combative art. Klimt already uses gold not as a simple luxury, but as a material capable of moving the portrait towards the icon.
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#12
Nuda Veritas
A life-size naked woman holds a mirror in front of the viewer under a quote from Schiller devoted to the truth and the taste of the few. The blue background, the dandelions and the stylized snake refuse any realistic space; the narrow silhouette becomes a declaration. Exhibited in 1899, while Klimt presided over the Secession, Nuda Veritas responded directly to the resistance encountered by modern Viennese art. The truth she proclaims is less moral than that of uncompromising creation.
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#13
Portrait of Emilie Flöge
Emilie Flöge stands in a blue reform dress whose ruffles and patterns cover almost entirely the body. The figure appears flat as a textile, while the face and hands maintain calm precision. Fashion designer and essential companion of Klimt, Flöge is not only a model: her clothing universe contributes to the modernity of the image. Painted in 1902, the portrait organizes the emancipation of the body through clothing rather than through its revelation.
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#14
Sonja Knips
Sitting on the edge of a red armchair, Sonja Knips turns to the viewer as if the pose had just been interrupted. The pink dress unfolds in a vast flexible mass which contrasts with the clean face, the hands and the notebook held on the knees. Painted in 1897-1898, this portrait marks a decisive step between the worldly representation and the decorative modernity of Klimt. Painted in 1897-1898, this portrait marks a decisive step between the worldly representation and the decorative modernity of Klimt. The depth still remains, but it is already beginning to give way to the autonomy of colors.
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#15
Portrait of Fritza Riedler
Fritza Riedler sits from the front in a white dress, in front of an armchair and a wall whose geometric patterns almost abolish the depth. The square halo around the head cites both modern furniture and Spanish court portraits admired by Klimt. The hands together stabilize a figure surrounded by active surfaces. Completed in 1906, the painting constitutes a direct laboratory for golden portraits: the model remains individual while the decor gains its independence.
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#16
Portrait of Margarethe Stonborough-Wittgenstein
Margarethe stands in a pearly white dress, framed by sections of color and floral patterns that tighten the space around her. Klimt contrasts the precise modeling of the face with the increasing geometry of the background, as if the portrait hesitated between person, clothing and architecture. Commissioned by Karl Wittgenstein and completed in 1905, the image would hardly have satisfied the model. Commissioned by Karl Wittgenstein and completed in 1905, the image would hardly have satisfied the model. This reservation reminds us that the formal elegance of a portrait does not guarantee the adhesion of the one it represents.
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#17
Hope I
A pregnant woman appears naked in profile, one hand placed above her stomach, while disturbing figures appear behind her. The frontality of the gaze contradicts the vulnerability of the body and the conventions of modesty which then surrounded pregnancy. Painted in 1903, L'Espoir I risked causing a scandal during its exhibition. Klimt offers neither ideal motherhood nor simple provocation: he maintains together the promise of birth, desire and the threat of disappearance.
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#18
Hope II
A pregnant woman lowers her head to her stomach, wrapped in a monumental dress covered in gold and circular motifs. A skull slides against the stomach while three female figures, at the bottom, seem to pray or mourn. Made in 1907-1908, this second variation replaces the direct nudity of L'Espoir I with an almost iconic garment, without erasing the threat. Birth, death and decorative beauty remain suspended in the same balance.
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#19
Goldfish
A red-haired woman turns her head towards the viewer while her body, seen from behind, dominates a vertical populated by swimmers and fish. Water is not described as a natural environment: it becomes a field of gold where shapes float without gravity. Painted in 1901-1902 after attacks on University paintings, the painting is said to have initially had a title addressed to critics. His insolence is precisely due to the mixture of eroticism, humor and decorative splendor.
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#20
The Fan Woman
An unknown woman, with her shoulder uncovered, holds a fan in front of a decor saturated with flowers, birds and East Asian motifs. The face and flesh are modeled flexibly, but the yellow dress and the background respond to each other until the space is undecidable. Remaining on an easel in the workshop when Klimt died in 1918, this late work is not unfinished. It shows a painter freed from the golden background, working in bold colors and juxtapositions.
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#21
Judith II
In "Judith II", the square surface tightens the pattern until it makes the landscape a living tapestry. About "Judith II", The detail is never isolated; it joins a rhythm which engages the entire canvas. Finally, "Judith II" confirms that this painting confirms that the landscape was a major testing ground for Klimt.
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#22
The Virgins
In "The Virgins", the juxtaposed keys construct the space without resorting to deep perspective. About "The Virgins", This tension gives the painting a modernity distinct from the golden period alone. Finally, "The Virgins" confirms that the visible silence of the subject lets the shapes accomplish the entire movement.
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#23
The bride
In "The Bride", the face retains its shape while the garment gains the autonomy of a pattern. About "The Bride", The proximity of the shots makes the pattern more tactile than illusionistic. Finally, "The Bride" confirms that balance comes less from symmetry than from a network of visual echoes.
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#24
Adam and Eve
In "Adam and Eve", ornament does not cover the figure: it regulates the way in which it appears. About "Adam and Eve", The painting thus retains a tension between intimacy and distancing. Finally, "Adam and Eve" confirms that color becomes an architecture capable of holding the entire composition alone.
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#25
The baby
In "The Baby", vegetation is precisely observed and then transformed into a colored network. About "The Baby", Apparent stillness preserves the memory of a very active work of simplification. Finally, "The Baby" confirms that color carries an intensity that gold is no longer the only thing to produce.
Discover →Mademoiselle Lieser, Johanna Staude, the Primavesi, the Lederers and the major sponsors show how clothing becomes social architecture.
#26
Portrait of Miss Lieser
In "Portrait of Mademoiselle Lieser", frontality gives the subject a calm presence that the decor subtly disturbs. About "Portrait of Mademoiselle Lieser", The subject remains recognizable even though each outline threatens to reach the background. Finally, "Portrait of Mademoiselle Lieser" confirms that the surface makes proximity a new form of pictorial space.
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#27
Portrait of Johanna Staude
In "Portrait of Johanna Staude", the vertical format forces the eye to travel through the body, fabric and background in stages. About "Portrait of Johanna Staude", Dark accents prevent the colorful richness from becoming uniform. Finally, "Portrait of Johanna Staude" confirms that the work requires as much attention to its intervals as to its main forms.
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#28
Portrait of Amalie Zuckerkandl
In "Portrait of Amalie Zuckerkandl", late colors replace gold without abandoning the taste for nested surfaces. About "Portrait of Amalie Zuckerkandl", Repetition produces a continuity that small ruptures bring to life. Finally, "Portrait of Amalie Zuckerkandl" confirms that nature appears simultaneously observed, ordered and reinvented.
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#29
Portrait of ermine gallia
In "Portrait of Hermine Gallia", the symbolic scene is concentrated in a few gestures and in the tension between the figures. About "Portrait of Hermine Gallia", The depth is reduced, but the sensation of material density increases. Finally, "Portrait of Hermine Gallia" confirms that the painting reminds us that Klimt's modernity far exceeds his golden icons.
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#30
Portrait of Marie Henneberg
In "Portrait of Marie Henneberg", the natural motif becomes a mosaic of touches whose unity is only revealed at a distance. About "Portrait of Marie Henneberg", Color connects the fragments without erasing their differences in material and scale. Finally, "Portrait of Marie Henneberg" confirms that modernity is born from this hesitation between the object represented and the constructed surface.
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#31
Portrait of Serena Pulitzer Lederer
In "Portrait of Serena Pulitzer Lederer", the framing brings the subject so close that the distinction between figure and decor wavers. About "Portrait of Serena Pulitzer Lederer", A naturalistic detail is often enough to stabilize the most decorative areas. Finally, "Portrait of Serena Pulitzer Lederer" confirms that resemblance arises as much from the atmosphere as from the features of the model.
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#32
Portrait of Eugenia Primavesi
In "Portrait of Eugenia Primavesi", the curved lines circulate the gaze between skin, hair, fabric and vegetation. About "Portrait of Eugenia Primavesi", This organization explains that the image remains readable while bordering on abstraction. Finally, "Portrait of Eugenia Primavesi" confirms that Klimt here unites optical pleasure with extremely rigorous organization.
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#33
Mäda Primavesi
In "Mäda Primavesi", fragmented light transforms a familiar view into continuous vibration. About "Mäda Primavesi", The gaze constantly moves from the presence of the subject to the autonomy of the painting. Finally, "Mäda Primavesi" confirms that the motif reveals its strength when it encounters a specific figure or place.
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#34
Portrait of Friedericke Maria Beer
In "Portrait of Friedericke Maria Beer", the decor is organized around the figure like a second silhouette. About "Portrait of Friedericke Maria Beer", Klimt transforms an intimate experience into a composition held at a distance. Finally, "Portrait of Friedericke Maria Beer" confirms that the work shows how decoration can become a true method of vision.
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#35
The Black Feather Hat
In "The Black Feather Hat", the juxtaposed patterns hold together areas that might seem contradictory. About "The Black Feather Hat", The composition advances in repeats, echoes and interruptions rather than depth. Finally, "The Black Feather Hat" confirms that the composition transforms a familiar pattern into an almost abstract experience.
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#36
Lady in White
In "Lady in White", the scale of detail forces the eye to gradually reconstruct the whole. About "Lady in White", Klimt thus maintains a balance between direct observation and decorative invention. Finally, "Lady in White" confirms that the key here organizes the time necessary to discover the image.
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#37
Portrait of a lady
In "Portrait of a Lady", a discreet diagonal animates the composition under its apparent immobility. About "Portrait of a Lady", The repetition of shapes produces less of a setting than a complete visual structure. Finally, "Portrait of a Lady" confirms that the framing renews a subject that its apparent simplicity could have made banal.
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#38
The dancer
In "The Dancer", the square surface tightens the pattern until it makes the landscape a living tapestry. About "The Dancer", The calm of the whole depends on a multitude of carefully measured contrasts. Finally, "The Dancer" confirms that the ornament ultimately leads the eye instead of distracting it from the subject.
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#39
Friends
In "Les Amies", the juxtaposed keys construct the space without resorting to a deep perspective. About "Les Amies", Each material receives a distinct rhythm without breaking the unity of the scene. Finally, "Les Amies" confirms that the gaze oscillates between recognition of the subject and autonomous pleasure of color.
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#40
Woman in hat and feather boa
In "Woman with a Hat and Feather Boa", the face retains its pattern while the garment gains the autonomy of a pattern. About "Woman with a Hat and Feather Boa", The detail is never isolated; it joins a rhythm that engages the entire canvas. Finally, "Woman with a Hat and Feather Boa" confirms that the decorative density always leaves a zone of silence.
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#41
Woman with sleeve
In "Woman with the Sleeve", the ornament does not cover the figure: it regulates the way in which it appears. About "Woman with the Sleeve", This tension gives the painting a modernity distinct from the golden period alone. Finally, "Woman with the Sleeve" confirms that the image fits into the gap between carnal presence and flat construction.
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#42
Portrait of Baroness Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt
In "Portrait of Baroness Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt", the vegetation is precisely observed then transformed into a colored network. About "Portrait of Baroness Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt", The proximity of the shots makes the pattern more tactile than illusionistic. Finally, "Portrait of Baroness Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt" confirms that each local detail reinforces the cohesion of the entire surface.
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#43
Portrait of Hélène Klimt
In "Portrait of Hélène Klimt", frontality gives the subject a calm presence that the decor subtly disturbs. About "Portrait of Hélène Klimt", The painting thus retains a tension between intimacy and distancing. Finally, "Portrait of Hélène Klimt" confirms that painting transforms slow observation into an immediately sensitive rhythm.
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#44
Young girl sitting
In "Sitting Young Girl", the vertical format forces the gaze to travel through the body, fabric and background in stages. About "Sitting Young Girl", The Apparent Immobility preserves the memory of a very active work of simplification. Finally, "Sitting Young Girl" confirms that this painting confirms that the landscape was a major testing ground for Klimt.
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#45
Portrait of a woman
In "Portrait of a Woman", late colors replace gold without abandoning the taste for nested surfaces. About "Portrait of a Woman", The subject remains recognizable even as each outline threatens to reach the background. Finally, "Portrait of a Woman" confirms that the visible silence of the subject lets the shapes accomplish the entire movement.
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#46
The Blind
In "The Blind Man", the symbolic scene is concentrated in a few gestures and in the tension between the figures. About "The Blind Man", Dark accents prevent the colored richness from becoming uniform. Finally, "The Blind Man" confirms that balance comes less from symmetry than from a network of visual echoes.
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#47
Old man on his deathbed
In "Old Man on His Deathbed", the natural pattern becomes a mosaic of touches whose unity is only revealed at a distance. About "Old Man on His Deathbed", Repetition produces a continuity that small ruptures bring to life. Finally, "Old Man on His Deathbed" confirms that color becomes an architecture capable of holding the entire composition alone.
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#48
Josef Lewinsky as Carlos in Clavigo
In "Josef Lewinsky as Carlos in Clavigo", the framing brings the subject so close that the distinction between figure and setting wavers. About "Josef Lewinsky as Carlos in Clavigo", The depth is reduced, but the feeling of material density increases. Finally, "Josef Lewinsky as Carlos in Clavigo" confirms that color carries an intensity that gold is no longer the only thing to produce.
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#49
Portrait of pianist Joseph Pembauer
In "Portrait of the Pianist Joseph Pembauer", the curved lines circulate the gaze between skin, hair, fabric and vegetation. About "Portrait of the pianist Joseph Pembauer", Color connects the fragments without erasing their differences in material and scale. Finally, "Portrait of the pianist Joseph Pembauer" confirms that the surface makes proximity a new form of pictorial space.
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#50
Auditorium of Old Burgtheater
In "Old Burgtheater Auditorium", fragmented light transforms a familiar view into continuous vibration. About "Old Burgtheater Auditorium", A naturalistic detail is often enough to stabilize the most decorative areas. Finally, "Old Burgtheater Auditorium" confirms that the work requires as much attention to its intervals as to its main forms.
Discover →Music, love, water, mythology and first public settings reveal a Klimt trained in history before the breakup of the Secession.
#51
Allegory of sculpture
In "Allegory of Sculpture", the decor is organized around the figure like a second silhouette. About "Allegory of Sculpture", This organization explains that the image remains readable while bordering on abstraction. Finally, "Allegory of Sculpture" confirms that nature appears simultaneously observed, ordered and reinvented.
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#52
Music
In "Music", juxtaposed patterns hold together areas that might seem contradictory. About "Music", The gaze constantly moves from the presence of the subject to the autonomy of the painting. Finally, "Music" confirms that the painting reminds us that Klimt’s modernity goes far beyond his golden icons.
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#53
Schubert on piano I
In "Schubert on Piano I", the scale of detail forces the eye to gradually reconstruct the whole. About "Schubert on Piano I", Klimt transforms an intimate experience into a composition held at a distance. Finally, "Schubert on piano I" confirms that modernity is born from this hesitation between the object represented and the constructed surface.
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#54
Fable
In "Fable", a discreet diagonal animates the composition under its apparent immobility. About "Fable", The composition advances by repetitions, echoes and interruptions rather than by depth. Finally, "Fable" confirms that resemblance arises as much from the atmosphere as from the features of the model.
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#55
Love
In "Love", the square surface tightens the pattern until it makes the landscape a living tapestry. About "Love", Klimt thus maintains a balance between direct observation and decorative invention. Finally, "Love" confirms that Klimt here unites optical pleasure with extremely rigorous organization.
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#56
Water in motion
In "Water in Motion", juxtaposed touches construct space without resorting to deep perspective. About "Water in Motion", The repetition of shapes produces less of a setting than a complete visual structure. Finally, "Water in Motion" confirms that the pattern reveals its strength when it encounters a specific figure or place.
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#57
Silverfish
In "Silver Fish", the face retains its pattern while the garment gains the autonomy of a pattern. About "Silver Fish", The calm of the whole depends on a multitude of carefully measured contrasts. Finally, "Silver Fish" confirms that the work shows how decoration can become a true method of vision.
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#58
The Hydra
In "The Hydra", ornament does not cover the figure: it regulates the way in which it appears. About "The Hydra", Each material receives a distinct rhythm without breaking the unity of the scene. Finally, "The Hydra" confirms that the composition transforms a familiar motif into an almost abstract experience.
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#59
Ancient Egypt, Isis
In "Ancient Egypt, Isis", vegetation is precisely observed and then transformed into a colored network. About "Ancient Egypt, Isis", The detail is never isolated; it joins a rhythm which engages the entire canvas. Finally, "Ancient Egypt, Isis" confirms that the key here organizes the time necessary to discover the image.
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#60
The Attersee
In "L'Attersee", frontality gives the subject a calm presence that the decor subtly disturbs. About "The Attersee", This tension gives the painting a modernity distinct from the golden period alone. Finally, "The Attersee" confirms that the framing renews a subject that its apparent simplicity could have made banal.
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#61
Quiet pond
In "Calm Pond", the vertical format forces the gaze to travel through the body, fabric and background in stages. About "Calm Pond", The proximity of the shots makes the pattern more tactile than illusionistic. Finally, "Calm Pond" confirms that the ornament ultimately leads the gaze instead of distracting it from the subject.
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#62
After the rain
In "After the Rain", late colors replace gold without abandoning the taste for nested surfaces. About "After the Rain", The painting thus maintains a tension between intimacy and distancing. Finally, "After the Rain" confirms that the gaze oscillates between recognition of the subject and autonomous pleasure of color.
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#63
Fir forest I
In "Fir Forest I", the symbolic scene is concentrated in a few gestures and in the tension between the figures. About "Fir Forest I", The apparent immobility preserves the memory of a very active work of simplification. Finally, "Fir Forest I" confirms that decorative density always leaves a zone of silence.
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#64
Birch forest
In "Birch Forest", the natural pattern becomes a mosaic of touches whose unity is only revealed at a distance. About "Birch Forest", The subject remains recognizable even though each outline threatens to reach the bottom. Finally, "Birch Forest" confirms that the image lies in the gap between carnal presence and flat construction.
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#65
Beech forest
In "Beech Forest", the framing brings the subject so close that the distinction between figure and decor wavers. About "Beech Forest", Dark accents prevent the colored richness from becoming uniform. Finally, "Beech Forest" confirms that each local detail reinforces the cohesion of the entire surface.
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#66
The pear tree
In "Le Poirier", the curved lines circulate the gaze between skin, hair, fabric and vegetation. About "Le Poirier", Repetition produces a continuity that small ruptures bring to life. Finally, "Le Poirier" confirms that painting transforms slow observation into an immediately sensitive rhythm.
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#67
The Sunflower
In "The Sunflower", fragmented light transforms a familiar view into continuous vibration. About "The Sunflower", The depth is reduced, but the sensation of material density increases. Finally, "The Sunflower" confirms that this painting confirms that the landscape was a major testing ground for Klimt.
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#68
Sunflower garden
In "Sunflower Garden", the decor is organized around the figure like a second silhouette. About "Sunflower Garden", Color connects the fragments without erasing their differences in material and scale. Finally, "Sunflower Garden" confirms that the visible silence of the subject lets the shapes accomplish all the movement.
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#69
Rose bushes under the trees
In "Roses Under the Trees", juxtaposed patterns hold together areas that might seem contradictory. About "Roses Under the Trees", A naturalistic detail is often enough to stabilize the most decorative areas. Finally, "Roses under the trees" confirms that balance comes less from symmetry than from a network of visual echoes.
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#70
Field in bloom
In "Champ en fleur", the scale of detail forces the eye to gradually reconstruct the whole. About "Champ en fleur", This organization explains that the image remains readable while bordering on abstraction. Finally, "Champ en fleur" confirms that color becomes an architecture capable of holding the entire composition alone.
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#71
Poppy field
In "Field of Poppies", a discreet diagonal animates the composition under its apparent immobility. About "Field of Poppies", The gaze constantly moves from the presence of the subject to the autonomy of the painting. Finally, "Field of Poppies" confirms that color carries an intensity that gold is no longer the only thing to produce.
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#72
Flower garden
In "Garden of Flowers", the square surface tightens the pattern until it makes the landscape a living tapestry. About "Garden of Flowers", Klimt transforms an intimate experience into a composition held at a distance. Finally, "Garden of Flowers" confirms that the surface makes proximity a new form of pictorial space.
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#73
Italian horticultural landscape
In "Italian Horticultural Landscape", juxtaposed touches construct space without resorting to deep perspective. About "Italian Horticultural Landscape", The composition advances in repeats, echoes and interruptions rather than depth. Finally, "Italian Horticultural Landscape" confirms that the work requires as much attention to its intervals as to its main forms.
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#74
Horticultural landscape with a hilltop
In "Horticultural landscape with a hill top", the face retains its pattern while the garment gains the autonomy of a pattern. About "Horticultural landscape with a hill top", Klimt thus maintains a balance between direct observation and decorative invention. Finally, "Horticultural landscape with a hill top" confirms that nature appears simultaneously observed, ordered and reinvented.
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#75
Kammer Castle at Attersee III
In "Château Kammer at Attersee III", the ornament does not cover the figure: it regulates the way in which it appears. About "Château Kammer at Attersee III", The repetition of shapes produces less a decoration than a complete visual structure. Finally, "Château Kammer at Attersee III" confirms that the painting reminds us that Klimt’s modernity goes far beyond his golden icons.
Discover →Kammer, the Attersee, Malcesine, orchards and undergrowth move the ornament towards the landscape without making it less intense.
#76
Water tower
In "Château d’eau", vegetation is precisely observed then transformed into a colored network. About "Château d’eau", The calm of the whole depends on a multitude of carefully measured contrasts. Finally, "Château d’eau" confirms that modernity is born from this hesitation between the object represented and the constructed surface.
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#77
Park at Kammer Castle
In "Park at Kammer Castle", frontality gives the subject a calm presence that the setting subtly disturbs. About "Park at Kammer Castle", Each material receives a distinct rhythm without breaking the unity of the scene. Finally, "Park at Kammer Castle" confirms that the resemblance arises as much from the atmosphere as from the features of the model.
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#78
Avenue in Schloss Kammer Park
In "Avenue in Schloss Kammer Park", the vertical format forces the eye to travel through the body, fabric and background in stages. About "Avenue in Schloss Kammer Park", The detail is never isolated; it joins a rhythm that engages the entire canvas. Finally, "Avenue in Schloss Kammer Park" confirms that Klimt here unites optical pleasure with extremely rigorous organization.
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#79
Kammer Castle Pond
In "Kammer Castle Pond", late colors replace gold without abandoning the taste of interlocking surfaces. About "Kammer Castle Pond", This tension gives the painting a modernity distinct from the golden period alone. Finally, "Kammer Castle Pond" confirms that the motif reveals its strength when it encounters a specific figure or location.
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#80
Malcesine on Lake Garda
In "Malcesine on Lake Garda", the symbolic scene is concentrated in a few gestures and in the tension between the figures. About "Malcesine on Lake Garda", The proximity of the shots makes the motif more tactile than illusionistic. Finally, "Malcesine on Lake Garda" confirms that the work shows how decoration can become a real method of vision.
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#81
Church in Cassone
In "Church in Cassone", the natural pattern becomes a mosaic of keys whose unity is only revealed at a distance. About "Church in Cassone", The painting thus retains a tension between intimacy and distancing. Finally, "Church in Cassone" confirms that the composition transforms a familiar motif into an almost abstract experience.
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#82
Farm garden with sunflowers
In "Farm Garden with Sunflowers", the framing brings the subject so close that the distinction between figure and decor wavers. About "Farm Garden with Sunflowers", The apparent stillness preserves the memory of a very active work of simplification. Finally, "Farm Garden with Sunflowers" confirms that the touch here organizes the time necessary to discover the image.
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#83
Country house of Upper Austria
In "Upper Austrian Country House", the curved lines make the eye flow between skin, hair, fabric and vegetation. About "Upper Austrian Country House", The subject remains recognizable even though each outline threatens to reach the bottom. Finally, "Upper Austrian Country House" confirms that the framing renews a subject that its apparent simplicity could have made banal.
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#84
Country house in Unterach on the Attersee
In "Country House in Unterach on the Attersee", the fragmented light transforms a familiar view into continuous vibration. About "Country House in Unterach on the Attersee", Dark accents prevent the colored richness from becoming uniform. Finally, "Country House in Unterach on the Attersee" confirms that ornament ultimately leads the eye instead of distracting it from the subject.
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#85
Country house on Lake Attersee
In "Country house on Lake Attersee", the decor is organized around the figure like a second silhouette. About "Country house on Lake Attersee", Repetition produces a continuity that small ruptures bring to life. Finally, "Country house on Lake Attersee" confirms that the gaze oscillates between recognition of the subject and autonomous pleasure of color.
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#86
Forest house in Weissenbach
In "Forest House in Weissenbach", the juxtaposed patterns together maintain areas that might seem contradictory. About "Forest House in Weissenbach", The depth is reduced, but the feeling of material density increases. Finally, "Forest house in Weissenbach" confirms that decorative density always leaves a zone of silence.
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#87
Unterach Church on the Attersee
In "Church of Unterach on the Attersee", the scale of detail forces the eye to gradually reconstruct the whole. About "Church of Unterach on the Attersee", Color connects the fragments without erasing their differences in material and scale. Finally, "Church of Unterach on the Attersee" confirms that the image fits into the gap between carnal presence and flat construction.
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#88
Lake shore with birches
In "Lake shore with birches", a discreet diagonal animates the composition under its apparent immobility. About "Lake shore with birches", A naturalistic detail is often enough to stabilize the most decorative areas. Finally, "Lake shore with birches" confirms that each local detail reinforces the cohesion of the entire surface.
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#89
The marsh
In "Le Marais", the square surface tightens the pattern until it makes the landscape a living tapestry. About "Le Marais", This organization explains that the image remains readable while bordering on abstraction. Finally, "Le Marais" confirms that painting transforms slow observation into an immediately sensitive rhythm.
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#90
Farm
In "Farm", the juxtaposed touches construct the space without resorting to deep perspective. About "Farm", The gaze constantly moves from the presence of the subject to the autonomy of the painting. Finally, "Farm" confirms that this painting confirms that the landscape was a major testing ground for Klimt.
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#91
Orchard with rose bushes
In "Overage with Rose Bushes", the face retains its pattern while the garment gains the autonomy of a pattern. About "Overage with Rose Bushes", Klimt transforms an intimate experience into a composition held at a distance. Finally, "Overage with Rose Bushes" confirms that the visible silence of the subject lets the shapes accomplish the entire movement.
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#92
Fruit orchard
In "Fruit Orchard", ornament does not cover the figure: it regulates the way in which it appears. About "Fruit Orchard", The composition advances by repetitions, echoes and interruptions rather than by depth. Finally, "Fruit Orchard" confirms that balance comes less from symmetry than from a network of visual echoes.
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#93
Garden path with chickens
In "Garden path with chickens", vegetation is precisely observed and then transformed into a colored network. About "Garden path with chickens", Klimt thus maintains a balance between direct observation and decorative invention. Finally, "Garden path with chickens" confirms that color becomes an architecture capable of holding the entire composition alone.
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#94
Young girl in a white dress in a forest
In "Young Girl in a White Dress in a Forest", frontality gives the subject a calm presence that the decor subtly disturbs. About "Young girl in a white dress in a forest", The repetition of shapes produces less a decor than a complete visual structure. Finally, "Young girl in a white dress in a forest" confirms that color carries an intensity that gold is no longer the only thing to produce.
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#95
The apple tree
In "Le Pommier", the vertical format forces the eye to travel through the body, the fabric and the background in stages. About "Le Pommier", The calm of the whole depends on a multitude of carefully measured contrasts. Finally, "Le Pommier" confirms that the surface makes proximity a new form of pictorial space.
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#96
Apple tree II
In "Pommier II", late colors replace gold without abandoning the taste for nested surfaces. About "Pommier II", Each material receives a distinct rhythm without breaking the unity of the scene. Finally, "Pommier II" confirms that the work requires as much attention to its intervals as to its main forms.
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#97
Approaching storm, the Great Poplar II
In "Approaching Storm, the Great Poplar II", the symbolic scene is concentrated in a few gestures and in the tension between the figures. About "Approaching Storm, the Great Poplar II", The detail is never isolated; it joins a rhythm which engages the entire canvas. Finally, "Approaching Storm, the Great Poplar II" confirms that nature appears simultaneously observed, ordered and reinvented.
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#98
Undergrowth at Unterach on the Attersee
In "Underwood at Unterach on the Attersee", the natural pattern becomes a mosaic of touches whose unity is only revealed at a distance. About "Underwood at Unterach on the Attersee", This tension gives the painting a modernity distinct from the golden period alone. Finally, "Underwood at Unterach on the Attersee" confirms that the painting reminds us that Klimt's modernity far exceeds his golden icons.
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#99
Two girls with a oleander
In "Two Girls with a Oleander", the framing brings the subject so close that the distinction between figure and setting wavers. About "Two girls with a oleander", The proximity of the shots makes the motif more tactile than illusionistic. Finally, "Two girls with a oleander" confirms that modernity is born from this hesitation between the object represented and the constructed surface.
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#100
Peasant house in Upper Austria
In "Peasant House in Upper Austria", the curved lines circulate the gaze between skin, hair, fabric and vegetation. About "Peasant House in Upper Austria", The painting thus maintains a tension between intimacy and distancing. Finally, "Peasant House in Upper Austria" confirms that the resemblance arises as much from the atmosphere as from the features of the model.
Discover →What the ranking reveals
One hundred paintings, three tensions behind gold
The journey shows that gold is only a moment of much broader research. Klimt opposes body and motif, desire and threat, depth and surface; his worldly portraits and his square landscapes obey the same desire to transform the visible into rhythm. Decoration does not cover meaning: it often constitutes the most indiscreet part of it.
The motive distributes the roles
Rectangles, spirals, flowers and circles differentiate bodies, energies and spaces with almost grammatical precision.
The portrait becomes an environment
Models do not pose in front of a decor; clothes, armchairs and backgrounds absorb them into a total visual identity.
Landscape eliminates horizon
The square framing, the high viewpoints and the plant repetitions bring gardens and forests closer to a textile surface.
Chronology of fin-de-siecle Vienna
Five dates to follow Klimt
Gustav Klimt was born on July 14 in Baumgarten into a family linked to the metal trades, a material proximity which will resonate with his future taste for gold.
With his brother Ernst and Franz Matsch, he created theater sets, ceilings and public commissions in the historicist language expected by the Empire.
Klimt becomes the first president of a group that calls for freedom of exhibition and openness to contemporary European arts.
Designed for the fourteenth Secession exhibition, the frieze combines painting, relief, materials and symbolism in a monumental journey.
Klimt died in Vienna on February 6; The Bride, Adam and Eve and several portraits remain unfinished, revealing the stages of the work under ornament.
Klimt in depth
Gustav Klimt's 100 famous paintings: from the Secession to the Attersee
Gustav Klimt's 100 famous paintings first tell of a Viennese rupture. Trained in great historicist decorations, Klimt mastered official painting perfectly before participating in the founding of the Secession in 1897. Pallas Athena, Nuda Veritas and the Beethoven Frieze are therefore not the essays of a beginner: they are the declarations of a recognized artist who decides to move the rules of the exhibition, the subject and the surface.
The golden period concentrates this transformation. In Judith I, the Portrait of Adèle Bloch-Bauer I and The Kiss, the metal sheet not only serves to enrich the image. It removes part of the body's depth, brings the painting closer to the mosaic and gives the figures the presence of an icon. Geometric patterns, flowers, eyes and spirals then distribute roles with as much precision as gestures or looks.
The portraits show, however, that Klimt never reduces his models to a setting. Sonja Knips, Emilie Flöge, Fritza Riedler, Margarethe Stonborough-Wittgenstein and the two Adèles occupy spaces where clothing, armchair and background become social architecture. The face and hands resist this absorption. It is in this gap between resemblance and surface that their sometimes uncomfortable modernity is built.
Finally, the landscapes of the Attersee prove that the work does not stop at gold. Klimt often frames in squares, elevates the point of view and eliminates the horizon; gardens, orchards, undergrowth and facades become continuous fields of colorful touches. The latest paintings gradually replace metal with freer pinks, greens and blues. The pattern remains, but it has changed material and scale.
Four reading keys
Look at gold without losing bodies
Metal, pattern, contact and framing allow these works to be read beyond their decorative power. In Klimt, a spiral can signal a tree, a desire or a threat; she rarely accepted being just a spiral.
Follow the light
Spotting metallic areas shows how light flattens the space while giving the figures an iconic presence.
Compare the signs
Rectangles, circles, eyes and flowers create differences in gender, movement and tension within the same surface.
Read the gestures
Hands, sloping faces and close-up bodies specify whether the embrace is tenderness, protection or control.
Measure depth
In square landscapes, the horizon often disappears; vegetation then occupies the canvas like a continuous field.
Secession Archives
Continue after the last gold leaf
Belvedere, Leopold Museum, Wien Museum, MAK, Secession, Neue Galerie, National Gallery, Museum of Modern Art in Rome, scientific inventories, Wikipedia and Wikidata allow you to check dates, states, provenances and destroyed works. Gold can dazzle; the documentation must continue to see clearly.
In Alpha Reproduction
01Gustav KlimtThe Masters of Gustav Klimt02Gustav KlimtCollections & guides03All reproductions of paintingsCollections & guidesMuseums and references
01Wikipedia - Gustav KlimtMuseum & reference02Wikidata - Gustav KlimtMuseum & reference03Wikimedia Commons - Gustav KlimtMuseum & reference04Belvedere - Gustav KlimtMuseum & reference05Leopold MuseumMuseum & reference06New New York GalleryMuseum & reference07Wikipedia - Art NouveauMuseum & reference08Wikidata - Art NouveauMuseum & reference09Wikimedia Commons - Art NouveauMuseum & reference10Wikipedia - SymbolismMuseum & referenceFrequently asked questions
Klimt without automatic gilding
The essential answers to understanding the Golden Period, destroyed faculty paintings, the Viennese Secession, portraits of sponsors and landscapes of the Attersee.
Why does Gustav Klimt use gold so much?
Klimt uses gold and silver leaf to flatten the space, bring the painting closer to the mosaic and transform the figures into almost iconic presences. His travels to Ravenna and his interest in the ancient arts nourished this research.
What is the golden period of Klimt called?
It mainly refers to the years of the beginning of the 20th century when gold structured works such as Judith I, the Portrait of Adèle Bloch-Bauer I and The Kiss. This phase is famous, but relatively brief in a much more diverse career.
What role does Klimt play in the Viennese Secession?
He was one of its founders and the first president in 1897. The group wanted to offer modern artists independent exhibitions and open Vienna to contemporary European research.
Are Klimt's landscapes really almost abstract?
They remain linked to observed places, notably around the Attersee, but the square format, the often deleted horizon and the repetition of the keys bring the vegetation closer to a textile surface or a mosaic.
Why did faculty paintings cause a scandal?
The allegories intended for the University of Vienna were considered too dark, erotic and far from the expected rationalist ideal. Klimt took over the works; they were then destroyed by fire in 1945 and are only known through photographs and reconstructions.
Who is Adèle Bloch-Bauer?
A member of a large family of Viennese patrons, she is the only person Klimt depicted in two completed full-length portraits. The first, returned to his heirs in 2006, is today kept at the Neue Galerie in New York.
Is the Tree of Life a self-contained painting?
The best-known image corresponds to a large-scale cardboard kept at MAK. He prepared the mosaic for the dining room of the Stoclet Palace in Brussels, designed as part of an architectural and decorative ensemble.
How to read patterns at Klimt?
Shapes and locations must be compared: rectangles, circles, spirals, eyes and flowers often distinguish figures, energies or spaces. Ornament is not a filling; it participates in the narration and the relationships between bodies.
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