Gustav Klimt – Master of the Vienna Secession, kisses, and golden figures

Gustav Klimt is one of the most recognizable artists in art history – the man whose golden visual language transformed 19th-century academic art into something entirely new. With his shimmering compositions in gold leaf, bold ornaments, and uncompromising love of the decorative, he created works that continue to move, provoke, and fascinate more than a century after his death. It is no surprise that Klimt posters are now among the most popular and sought-after art prints for Swedish homes.

From his sensational break with Vienna's art establishment to the famous painting The Kiss – one of the world's most reproduced works of art – Klimt's legacy lives on in exhibition halls, art books, and on the walls of modern homes. This page tells you everything you need to know about Gustav Klimt: his life, his technique, his most important works, and how to choose the right Klimt poster for your own home.

Contents

Who was Gustav Klimt?
The Vienna Secession - the breakaway that changed art
Klimt’s most important work
The Gold, Patterns, and Decorative Elements - Klimt's Technique
Klimt's legacy and influence on modern art
Klimt posters in the home - motifs, rooms, and placement
Timeline
Related artists
Frequently asked questions about Gustav Klimt

Who was Gustav Klimt?

Gustav Klimt was born on July 14, 1862, in Baumgarten, a suburb of Vienna, the second of seven children in a working-class family. His father, Ernst Klimt, was a goldsmith and engraver – a profession that very likely sparked his son Gustav's lifelong fascination with precious metals, surfaces, and the craftsmanship involved in building up an image. At the age of fourteen, Klimt was admitted to the Kunstgewerbeschule, Vienna's school of arts and crafts, where he trained as a decorative painter. Together with his brother Ernst and his friend Franz Matsch, he founded a successful decorative arts company that received commissions to decorate theaters and palaces throughout the monarchy.

It was a life lived in Vienna amid upheaval. The city underwent rapid modernization: the Ringstrasse was built, the old city walls were demolished, and cultural institutions were constructed in magnificent new architectural styles. Klimt was part of this, but he would soon become the one who broke with the old. During the 1890s, his artistic outlook deepened, and he was drawn toward symbolism, mysticism, and a new understanding of what an image could achieve beyond mere representation.

Quick facts: Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) · Austrian artist, Symbolist and master of Art Nouveau · Founder of the Vienna Secession in 1897 · Best known for The Kiss (1907–08) and Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907) · Golden Period: approx. 1899–1910 · The Kiss is owned by the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna · Adele Bloch-Bauer I was sold in 2006 for 135 million dollars – at the time, the highest price ever paid for a work of art · Inspired by Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna

Klimt remained unmarried throughout his life but had several deep relationships, the best known being his lifelong friendship and likely romantic relationship with the young fashion designer Emilie Flöge. He died on February 6, 1918, of a stroke, shortly after World War I had brought the world he knew to an end. He was 55 years old and left behind an unfinished work, The Bride, in his studio.

The Vienna Secession - the breakaway that changed art

On April 3, 1897, the Vienna Secession was founded by Gustav Klimt and around forty artists, architects, and designers who refused to bow to the conservative art establishment. Klimt became the movement’s first president. Among the other founders were designer Koloman Moser, architects Josef Hoffmann and Joseph Maria Olbrich - who designed the Secession Building with its famous golden laurel-leaf dome - and sculptor Edmund von Hellmer. Shortly afterward, architect Otto Wagner joined them. A complete overview of the movement’s history, building, exhibitions, and split can be found on the fact page about the Vienna Secession.

The Secession had a clear manifesto: Der Zeit ihre Kunst, der Kunst ihre Freiheit - “To every age its art, to art its freedom.” The words are still engraved on the façade of the Secession Building in Vienna. The movement drew inspiration from similar breaks in Munich and Berlin and viewed art as an integrated life project in which painting, architecture, crafts, and design formed a whole. This is the foundation of what is commonly called the Gesamtkunstwerk - the total work of art.

The Secession organized 23 exhibitions between 1898 and 1905, introduced international artists such as Auguste Rodin, Ferdinand Hodler, and Jan Toorop to Vienna audiences, and published the magazine Ver Sacrum (“Holy Spring”), which became one of Art Nouveau’s most important organs. But tensions within the movement were never far away. In 1905, the Secession split over whether art and crafts should be integrated or kept separate. Klimt and a group of like-minded artists left - and it was among other things his group that laid the foundation for the Wiener Werkstätte.

The Vienna Secession is now one of the most influential examples in art history of how artists organized themselves to challenge institutions, define a new aesthetic, and open art to the outside world. The movement’s legacy lives on in every art gallery that refuses to distinguish between art and design.

Klimt’s most important work

The Kiss (Der Kuss), 1907–08

The Kiss is Gustav Klimt’s masterpiece and one of the world’s most reproduced works of art. The painting was created in 1907–1908 and exhibited unfinished at the 1908 Kunstschau Wien under the title Liebespaar - “Lovers”. The Austrian state immediately purchased the work for 25,000 kroner, and it ended up at the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna, where it remains today. Austria regards The Kiss as a national treasure and has never allowed it to be sold.

The composition is stunningly simple and at the same time impossibly complex. Two figures - a couple in a close embrace - kneel at the edge of a flower-covered cliff. The man bends down and kisses the woman’s cheek. The couple’s bodies are concealed by a shared cloak that flows with gold and ornaments: the man’s garment is edged with black and white rectangles, while the woman’s is decorated with floral, rounded patterns. Klimt applied gold leaf directly to the canvas - a technique he drew inspiration for from the Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna, which he visited in 1903.

"The Kiss is not a depiction of a moment. It is a depiction of a state - of absolute closeness and the total dissolution of the boundaries between two people."

The Kiss is one of the world’s best-selling art prints. As a Klimt print, it suits almost any room and interior style thanks to its warm gold palette and its universal depiction of love. If you are looking for a beautiful print by a famous artist, The Kiss is a safe choice.

Judith I, 1901

Judith I is one of the most provocative portraits in art history. Klimt depicted the biblical heroine Judith - who saved her people by beheading the Assyrian general Holofernes - not as a virtuous warrior but as a sensual, half-naked woman with an expression of triumph and intoxicated pleasure. In her hand, she holds Holofernes’s severed head, but it is almost an afterthought. It is Judith’s gaze that dominates.

The work was scandalous for its time and was accused of reducing a biblical heroine to an erotic object. Klimt never responded to the criticism. Today, Judith I is read as a bold attempt to explore the intersection of power and desire, with a woman as subject rather than object. The work is owned by the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere and is one of Klimt’s most analyzed works in art-historical contexts.

Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907

The Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer is the most ambitious work from Klimt’s Golden Period. Adele, wife of the wealthy sugar industrialist Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, was Klimt’s most influential patron and probably his lover. Klimt spent an unusually long time on the portrait - the work continued for several years and included hundreds of preparatory studies - and the result is overwhelming: Adele emerges from a storm of gold, ornaments, spiral motifs, and geometric forms that make it difficult to distinguish the figure from the background.

The painting was confiscated by the Nazi regime after the Anschluss in 1938 and ended up at the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere. Decades of legal battles ended in 2006, when an Austrian court ruled that five Klimt works, including Adele Bloch-Bauer I, rightfully belonged to Adele's heirs. Maria Altmann, Adele's niece, immediately sold the work to Ronald Lauder for $135 million - the absolute record for a work of art at the time. It now hangs at the Neue Galerie in New York.

The Beethoven Frieze, 1902

For the 1902 Secession exhibition, which celebrated Ludwig van Beethoven, Klimt created a monumental wall painting: the Beethoven Frieze. The 34-meter-long work stretches along three walls in the Secession building and depicts humanity's striving for happiness and liberation through art. The frieze contains allegorical figures, monsters, and finally a scene that directly preceded The Kiss - an embracing couple symbolizing a state of fulfillment.

The frieze was originally considered a temporary work and was left behind after the exhibition. It was eventually purchased by the Austrian state and restored over several decades. Today, visitors can see it in situ in the basement level of the Secession building - one of Vienna's most unique art experiences. The frieze is a brilliant example of Klimt's ability to work on a large scale and combine Symbolism, Art Nouveau, and decorative craftsmanship into a cohesive narrative.

The Gold, Patterns, and Decorative Elements - Klimt's Technique

What makes Klimt's art immediately recognizable is the gold. But it is not merely an aesthetic preference - it is a considered artistic strategy with deep historical roots. The inspiration came partly from his father, who was a goldsmith, and partly from the Byzantine mosaics Klimt studied in Ravenna in 1903. The golden images in San Vitale and Sant'Apollinare Nuovo showed that gold was not jewelry but a visual language: a way to create another reality, beyond the earthly and the narrative.

During his golden period (approximately 1899–1910), Klimt used gold leaf applied directly to the canvas. The technique requires precision and patience: the leaf is extremely thin and delicate, and it must be laid in exact strips. Klimt combined oil-based layers with the gold, creating deep, layered surfaces that change character depending on the light. At the same time, he filled the surfaces with ornaments - circles, spirals, rectangles, floral patterns - derived from a range of traditions: Japanese craftsmanship, Egyptian art, Mycenaean gold objects, and the Art Nouveau ornamentation that surrounded him in Vienna.

An important peculiarity of Klimt's compositions is the contrast between the decorative and the living. Faces and hands – the parts of the body that convey emotion and narrative – are always painted with great naturalism and softness. Bodies and backgrounds, by contrast, dissolve into ornaments and patterns. This creates a tension: the human and the abstract meet in every image. It is this contrast that makes The Kiss so powerful – the bare hands and exposed face against the golden, form-dissolving cloak.

Klimt also produced an enormous number of preparatory studies. For Adele Bloch-Bauer I, there are hundreds of chalk and charcoal studies of details, dress ornaments, and facial expressions. His working method was meticulous, almost obsessive, and stood in striking contrast to his reputation as a spontaneous and sensual artist. He was disciplined, methodical, and deeply professional.

Klimt's legacy and influence on modern art and current exhibitions

Gustav Klimt's influence on subsequent generations of artists is difficult to overstate. His student Egon Schiele took the expressive line in an entirely different direction – rawer and more boundary-pushing, but with Klimt's emphasis on the human body as a starting point. Oskar Kokoschka, another of the young artists who moved in Klimt's circles, found in his work a liberating example for Expressionism's exploration of inner life.

Beyond Austria's art scene, Klimt's influence can be traced in everything from the geometric decoration of the Art Deco movement to the contemporary interior design trend of gold and organic patterns. Klimt's ornamental worldview – that art and design are one and the same, that beauty is not a luxury but a necessity – lives on as one of modernity's most enduring antidotes to the purely functional.

Today, Klimt is more popular than ever. His works attract enormous audiences and set records at art auctions. Several major Klimt exhibitions are taking place or planned for 2025 and 2026:

Belvedere, Vienna (on display until September 2025): The exhibition "Gustav Klimt – Pigment & Pixel" at the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere used advanced analytical methods to reveal new layers of Klimt's creative process – how he built up his compositions, how he used gold, and how his technique changed over time.

Ateneum, Helsinki (September 2025 – February 2026): The exhibition "Gallen-Kallela, Klimt & Vienna" places Klimt in a Nordic context and shows his connection to the Finnish artists he met and exchanged ideas with during the Secession movement. An unusual perspective that will interest Scandinavian art audiences.

Immersive experiences: In Budapest, New York, and Tokyo, major immersive Klimt exhibitions are taking place during 2025–2026, with the works projected on a monumental scale alongside music and movement choreography. Hall des Lumières in Manhattan is one of the most widely covered.

Klimt’s works are represented in major museums around the world. In addition to the Belvedere in Vienna, the Leopold Museum and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna hold important parts of his body of work, while Neue Galerie in New York houses Adele Bloch-Bauer I. See Belvedere’s official Klimt page for current exhibition information.

Klimt posters in the home - motifs, rooms, and placement

Klimt’s art was created to be decorative. He believed that art and its surroundings form a whole, and his works have an ability to elevate a room that few other artists’ work can match. The gold tones add warmth, the ornamentation creates depth, and the familiar motifs provide immediate recognition and resonance.

The Kiss works in almost any setting: the bedroom (a couple embracing is an obvious choice of motif), the living room (as a standalone gallery wall or in a composition with other Klimt works), and the hallway (as a welcoming focal point). Choose a poster with a neutral frame in a white, black, or gold-colored profile - the gold frame enhances the work’s own tones.

Judith I is best suited to rooms where you want a stronger, more dramatic presence. Home offices, libraries, and dining rooms are natural settings. The motif’s contrasts - black background, gold ornamentation, and the direct eye contact - work best with good lighting.

Adele Bloch-Bauer I is rich in detail, making it well suited to a heavier print quality and a larger format. Choose A2 or larger if you are hanging it alone on a wall. The motif’s warm, muscovite-colored tones work excellently in rooms with earthy shades - terracotta, sand, and deep green.

Tips: Klimt’s gold tones naturally complement the copper, brass, and terracotta colors in your interior. Combine a The Kiss poster with a simple black-and-white botanical print to balance the decorative look - you get depth without the floor disappearing. Our frames with gold-colored profiles are tailored for Klimt motifs. Also see our guide to gallery walls for more ideas.

Would you like to create a Klimt-inspired picture composition? Choose a central Klimt motif - perhaps The Kiss or Adele - and complement it with 1-2 abstract gold prints or botanical motifs. Keep the frame sizes consistent and arrange the composition on the floor before hanging it. Read more in our guide to Klimt paintings in the home or our post about symbolism in art.

See our full range of Klimt posters and prints by famous artists.

Timeline

Gustav Klimt was born on July 14, 1862, in Baumgarten outside Vienna, the son of a goldsmith from Bohemia and an Austrian mother. At the age of fourteen, he was admitted in 1876 to Vienna's School of Arts and Crafts, the Kunstgewerbeschule, where he studied decorative painting and met his lifelong friend and colleague Franz Matsch. Together with his brother Ernst Klimt, they founded Künstler-Compagnie in 1879, a decorative arts company that quickly won commissions to decorate theaters in Reichenberg, Karlsbad, and Fiume.

During the 1880s, the company flourished, and in 1886 Klimt received the prestigious commission to decorate the staircases of the newly built Burgtheater in Vienna; in 1890, he was awarded the Imperial Gold Medal. But in 1892, his life changed: his brother Ernst died of heart disease, and his partner Franz Matsch went his own way. Klimt entered a long period of uncertainty and introspection.

In 1897, he founded the Vienna Secession and was elected the movement's first chairman. His art now moved toward symbolism and Art Nouveau. Between 1900 and 1907, he created what is now his most controversial work: three murals for the auditorium of the University of Vienna - Philosophy, Medicine, and Jurisprudence - which provoked enormous protests because of their nude figures and nihilistic imagery. The university refused to accept them. Klimt bought the paintings back with his own funds; they were destroyed in a fire in 1945.

Around 1899, he began the golden period that would make him famous. In 1903, he traveled to Ravenna and studied the Byzantine mosaics. In 1907, he completed the portrait Adele Bloch-Bauer I and began The Kiss. Between 1905 and 1909, he also created the Stoclet Frieze for the Stoclet Palace in Brussels - one of the absolute high points of Art Nouveau.

After the Golden Period, Klimt turned toward a freer, more expressive style with stronger colors. He traveled to Paris, encountered the works of Henri Matisse and the Impressionists, and allowed these impulses to enrich his late style. He worked intensely until his stroke in January 1918. On February 6, 1918, at the age of 55, Gustav Klimt died. In his studio, he left behind an unfinished work – The Bride – bearing witness to the fact that to the very end he sought new paths.

Related artists

Gustav Klimt worked in a time and Europe teeming with artistic upheavals and movements. Understanding his art also means understanding his contemporaries and the movements with which he engaged.

Vienna Secession is the movement Klimt himself founded and led as chairman until the split in 1905. The fact page covers the Secession Building with its golden dome, the magazine Ver Sacrum, the 1902 Beethoven Exhibition, and the movement's legacy in the Wiener Werkstätte. Read more on Bozetto's fact page on the Vienna Secession.

Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) is the art movement Klimt himself belonged to through the Vienna Secession. The flowing ornamentation, gold, and union of art and crafts that characterize The Kiss are typical Jugendstil features. Read more on Bozetto's fact page on Art Nouveau and Jugendstil.

Henri Matisse was Klimt's closest contemporary in his interest in the decorative and ornamental. Matisse sought freedom in color, Klimt in gold and pattern – but both regarded the picture surface as a space to populate with patterns and forms rather than a mirror to hold up to reality. Klimt met Matisse on trips to Paris and was undoubtedly familiar with his work. See Bozetto's fact page on Henri Matisse for more about the Fauvist's life and work.

Vincent van Gogh represents another side of the 19th-century art revolution: the expressive line and the pure depiction of emotion. Van Gogh died in 1890, just as Klimt was entering his mature period, but his influence on the entire Symbolist generation was enormous. Read more on Bozetto's page on Van Gogh.

Claude Monet and the Impressionists are an important point of reference for Klimt's late art. During his trips to Paris, he absorbed impressions from Impressionism's treatment of light and atmosphere, even though he never joined the movement. See Bozetto's fact page on Impressionism.

Hilma af Klint is an interesting parallel case: a European artist who, at exactly the same time as Klimt, explored the occult, the symbolic, and the spiritual in art, but from a Nordic and radically abstract perspective. Klimt and Klint never met, but they shared a search beyond the visible. Read more about Hilma af Klint at Bozetto.

Klimt's student Egon Schiele carried the expressive approach forward and belongs to the same Viennese tradition. See also Gustav Klimt on Google Arts & Culture and Wikipedia on Gustav Klimt for additional biography and visual material. See the full See also our page on Alphonse Mucha. Bozetto's Knowledge Base for a comprehensive overview of artists, art movements, and interior design guides. Klimt is often associated with Symbolism and its dream of the spiritual and mythological.

Frequently asked questions about Gustav Klimt

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