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Two-Girls-with-Oleander

 

Klimt's 'Golden Phase' was marked by positive critical reaction and success. Many of his paintings from this period used gold leaf; the prominent use of gold can first be traced back to Pallas Athene (1898) and Judith I (1901), although the works most popularly associated with this period are:

 

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The Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907)  

 

The-Kiss

The Kiss (1907–1908)

 

Klimt travelled little but trips to Venice and Ravenna, both famous for their beautiful mosaics, most likely inspired his gold technique and his Byzantine imagery. In 1904, he collaborated with other artists on the lavish Palais Stoclet, the home of a wealthy Belgian industrialist, which was one of the grandest monuments of the Art Nouveau age.

 

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Beethoven Fries 1902

 

Klimt's contributions to the dining room, including both Fulfillment and Expectation, were some of his finest decorative work, and as he publicly stated, "probably the ultimate stage of my development of ornament." Between 1907 and 1909, Klimt painted five canvases of society women wrapped in fur. His apparent love of costume is expressed in the many photographs of Flöge modeling clothing he designed.

 

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As he worked and relaxed in his home, Klimt normally wore sandals and a long robe with no undergarments. His simple life was somewhat cloistered, devoted to his art and family and little else except the Secessionist Movement, and he avoided café society and other artists socially. Klimt's fame usually brought patrons to his door, and he could afford to be highly selective. His painting method was very deliberate and painstaking at times and he required lengthy sittings by his subjects. Though very active sexually, he kept his affairs discreet and he avoided personal scandal.

 

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Sunflower, 1907


Klimt wrote little about his vision or his methods. He wrote mostly postcards to Flöge and kept no diary. In a rare writing called "Commentary on a non-existent self-portrait", he states "I have never painted a self-portrait. I am less interested in myself as a subject for a painting than I am in other people, above all women...There is nothing special about me.

 

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The Tree Of Life, 1905

 

"I am a painter who paints day after day from morning to night...Who ever wants to know something about me...

ought to look carefully at my pictures."

 

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The story of how Adele Bloch-Bauer I (above portrait) and four others works of art stolen by the Nazis came to be returned to Maria Altmann and the Bloch-Bauer heirs is a tale of persistence. The five paintings had been stolen from the Bloch-Bauer family by the Nazis in 1938. Earlier efforts at restitution had failed, and until recently, the paintings had been on display at the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna. In 1999, Maria Altmann and other of the Bloch-Bauer heirs engaged E. Randol Schoenberg, of Burris & Schoenberg in Los Angeles, to represent them in their effort to recover the paintings. Mr. Schoenberg took the case to the United States Supreme Court, and ultimately succeeded, after seven years, in having the works declared stolen property and returned to their rightful owners. For more information on the lengthy battle for recovery of the paintings, please visit: www.adele.at

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