Gustav Klimt died on February 6, 1918 at the age of 55. A serious stroke struck him on January 11. So-called "flu" pneumonia in a historical source then complicates his condition.
The documents make it possible to respond precisely without transforming pneumonia into certain proof of Spanish flu.
A brutal death, documented step by step
On the morning of January 11, 1918, Klimt was dressing in the apartment he shared with his sisters Klara and Hermine, Westbahnstrasse 36 in Vienna. He suffered a stroke which paralyzed him on one side of his body. The Leopold Museum file specifies that he remains capable of speaking.
He was first taken to a sanatorium in the ninth arrondissement. Emilie Flöge, Rudolf Zimpel and Erich Lederer are among the visitors cited. Despite a slight improvement, immobility causes decubitus sores. On February 3 according to the Leopold Museum file - on February 2 according to the Klimt Foundation -, Klimt was transferred to Professor Gerhard Riehl's clinic at the Vienna General Hospital, where he was installed on a waterbed.
Pneumonia is then added to an already very weakened state. Klimt died on February 6 around six in the morning, according to the historical chronology cited by the Leopold Museum. Twenty-six days have passed since the attack - or twenty-seven calendar dates if we count the two days included.
The timeline of the last few weeks
THE STROKE
Attack at the Westbahnstrasse home, hemiplegia and admission to a private establishment. Speech remains possible.
Limited improvement
Relatives visit the painter. The neurological condition remains serious and immobility causes complications.
The transfer
Klimt joins Professor Riehl's clinic at Vienna General Hospital. Sources mention injuries due to decubitus.
The death
Pneumonia complicates the aftermath of stroke. Klimt dies in the morning, before his fifty-sixth birthday.
Burial
He is buried in the Hietzing cemetery, in the area of his last workshop.
Stroke, weakening and pneumonia: three levels
Stroke
It occurs on January 11, causes paralysis on one side and requires hospitalization. The historical sources cited here do not specify the type of stroke.
Immobilization
A severe stroke exposes you to respiratory and skin complications. The documents cite decubitus sores and a condition requiring transfer in early February.
Pneumonia
The historical record uses the German expression influenza Lungenentzündung, influenza-like pneumonia, which is added to the aftermath of the stroke.
Did Klimt die of the Spanish flu?
It's not demonstrated. The word "flu" does not identify a specific virus more than a century after the fact. Klimt died in early February 1918, while the CDC places the first cases detected in the United States in March 1918 and the American mortality peak in the fall. This American chronology alone does not make it possible to diagnose Klimt's case. The safest formulation therefore remains: "Klimt died after a stroke, complicated by pneumonia.""
Egon Schiele, on the other hand, died of the flu on October 31, 1918, three days after his wife Edith.
The last workshop and the interrupted works
From 1911, Klimt worked in a single-storey garden house in Hietzing. The neo-baroque villa visible today is a later transformation: Klimt never knew it in this form. The official website of Klimt Villa indicates that he worked on more than fifty paintings there.
A photograph by Moriz Nähr dated 1917 shows The bride and The Fan Woman on easels. It documents the scale of the paintings and the material organization of the workshop before the artist's disappearance. Death does not properly complete a series: it interrupts several projects at different stages.
The bride, begun in 1917, remains clearly unfinished. Belvedere recalls that premature death prevented Klimt from completing this vast allegory. Other portraits, such as those of Amalie Zuckerkandl and Johanna Staude, or Adam and Eve, they also keep unresolved areas.
Schiele draws Klimt at the morgue
In the mortuary room of the General Hospital, Egon Schiele draws Klimt's head three times. The painter's beard had been shaved during his hospitalization. According to testimony cited in the Leopold Museum file, Schiele found him so transformed that he initially had difficulty recognizing him.
These leaves do not transform the deceased into a golden icon. A few lines record a thin and motionless face. The gesture is both documentary and personal: Schiele considered Klimt a major figure in Viennese modernity and then sought to resume his workshop.
Where is Gustav Klimt buried?
Klimt was buried three days after his death in the Hietzing cemetery, in the thirteenth district of Vienna. The official list of historic graves of Friedhöfe Wien places him in group 5, locations 194/195.
This clarification corrects the often abbreviated reference to number 194 alone. The grave is not far from Feldmühlgasse 11, but it is necessary to distinguish the places: the stroke occurs in the Westbahnstrasse apartment, the work takes place in Hietzing's workshop, the death takes place at the General Hospital and the burial in the Hietzing cemetery.
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FAQ about the death of Gustav Klimt
When did Gustav Klimt die?
Gustav Klimt died on February 6, 1918, around six in the morning, at the Vienna General Hospital.
How old was Gustav Klimt when he died?
He was 55 years old. Born July 14, 1862, he had not yet reached his fifty-sixth birthday.
What did Gustav Klimt die of?
He suffered a serious stroke on January 11, 1918. Pneumonia then complicated his condition before his death on February 6.
Did Gustav Klimt die of the Spanish flu?
It's not demonstrated. One source speaks of influenza pneumonia, but that is not enough to identify the virus from the 1918 pandemic.
Where did Klimt have his stroke?
The stroke occurred while he was getting dressed in his apartment on Westbahnstrasse 36 in Vienna.
Could Klimt still speak after his stroke?
Yes. The Leopold Museum's historical record indicates that he was paralyzed on one side but retained the use of speech.
How long did Klimt survive after his stroke?
Twenty-six days passed between the stroke of January 11 and the death of February 6, 1918.
What is Klimt's latest work?
There is no single simple answer. The Bride is his last major allegorical project and remains unfinished; several late portraits were also in progress.
Why did Egon Schiele draw Klimt dead?
Schiele went to the mortuary chamber and made three drawings of Klimt's head, both documents and farewell gestures.
Where is Gustav Klimt's grave?
It is located at the Hietzing cemetery in Vienna, group 5, locations 194/195.
Institutional sources
- Leopold Museum, historical file -stroke, address, paralysis, visits, transfer, pneumonia, time of death and Schiele's drawings.
- Belvedere, IN-SIGHT: Gustav Klimt - last workshop and unfinished state of The bride.
- Leopold Museum, photograph by The bride -work and documentation of Moriz Nähr.
- Klimt Villa - workshop from 1911 to 1918, building transformed after his death and more than fifty paintings.
- Friedhöfe Wien, historic tombs of Hietzing - group 5, locations 194/195.
- CDC, the three waves of the 1918 pandemic - epidemiological timeline.
- Wien Museum - drawing by Schiele dated February 7, 1918, inventory 243485.
- Klimt Foundation - late works, death and burial.
- Klimt Foundation - biographical timeline and photography with the cat.
- Leopold Museum - Life and Death, 1910 -1911, remodeled 1915 -1916.
Article verified and updated on September 27, 2026. Retrospective diagnoses are deliberately limited to what historical sources allow us to assert.
Understand the latest works
Compare hand painted reproductions of The bride, of The Fan Woman, d'Adam and Eve and of Life and Death.
Last editorial and factual verification: September 27, 2026.
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