Stunningly beautiful women were, ac- cording to the painter himself,“the embod- iment of Vienna at the end of the century”- or at least that was the expression he used when urging them to be his muses... After 1900, Klimt exclusively painted the female form. The women in his paintings not on- ly radiate with obvious eroticism, but also strength and self-confidence. Art critics and art historians described Klimt’s art for decades as“frauenversteher”– one who understands women – and in Vienna it was rumoured that he had affairs with many of his models. At the heart of his fascinating works are certainly the portraits of Adele Bloch-Bau- er. Adele is the only woman who Klimt offi- cially painted twice (her face probably also appears on Klimt’s topless painting Judith and his famous The Kiss). Adele Bauer was born in Vienna in 1881, the daughter of a bank and railway director, and had a privileged childhood. At the age of 19 she married Ferdinand Bloch, a sug- ar magnate from Czech lands who was 17 years her senior. Adele and Ferdinand were arts benefactors, not only collecting paint- ings but also commissioning them, and Gus- tav Klimt was one of their favourite artists. Adele’s first portrait was commissioned by Ferdinand as a gift for Adele’s parents to mark their wedding anniversary, a few years be- fore Klimt founded the Vienna Secession, and shortly after his scandalous, alleged- ly pornographic murals at the University of Vienna saw him placed on the black list of artists from whom state institutions com- missioned works. That first portrait, also known as“Wom- an in the Gold”, was exhibited in 1907. Cre- ated in oil and gold leaf, inspired by Byzan- tine mosaics, it presents Adele with exposed shoulders sitting on a stylised throne and viewing the observer with vulnerability and pride. The background is a vibrant explo- sion of glorious oriental and erotic sym- bolism - triangles, eyes, eggs... Art histori- ans agree that this portrait is a symphony in gold, a unique triumph of the symbol, and it is today considered an art nouveau masterpiece. The second portrait of her is dramati- cally different. Five years later, Klimt creat- ed something completely different, with the stylistic evolution obvious thanks to power- ful colouring. Bloch-Bauer died of meningitis in 1925, at the age of just 43. After her death, her bedroom became a kind of shrine, with Klimt’s portraits to the fore. Adele’s face was a symbol of Viennese culture and was also dubbed the Austrian Mona Lisa. You can view the world’s largest collec- tion of Klimt’s paintings, including his famous work The Kiss, in the upper palace of Vien- na’s Belvedere Museum.
Adele je bila simbol bečke kulture, a nazivali su je i austrijskom Mona Lizom Adele’s face was a symbol of Viennese culture and was also dubbed the Austrian Mona Lisa
dan od omiljenih umetnika. Prvi por- tret Adele naručio je Ferdinand kao poklon njenim roditeljima za godiš- njicu braka, nekoliko godina pre ne- go što je Klimt osnovao Bečku se- cesiju i nedugo pošto su ga njegovi skandalozni, navodno pornografski murali na Bečkom univerzitetu stavi- li na crnu listu umetnika od kojih su državne institucije naručivale dela. Taj prvi portret, poznat i kao Že- na u zlatnom , izložen je 1907. Nači- njen u ulju i zlatnim listićima i in- spirisan vizantijskim mozaicima, predstavlja Adele koja, razgoliće- nih ramena, sedi na stilizovanom tronu i gleda u posmatrača s ranji- vošću i ponosom. Pozadina je bujna eksplozija svetucavog orijentalnog i erotskog simbolizma – trouglovi, oči, jaja... Istoričari umetnosti slažu se da je ovaj portret simfonija u zlat- nom, jedinstven trijumf simbola, a danas se smatra remek-delom sece- sije. Njen drugi portet dramatično je drugačiji. Pet godina kasnije, Klimt radi nešto sasvim drugačije – stilska evolucija je očigledna, i to zahvalju- jući moćnom koloritu. Bloh Bauero- va je preminula od meningitisa 1925, kada je imala samo 43 godine. Po- sle njene smrti njena soba je posta- la neka vrsta svetilišta, s Klimtovim portretima u prvom planu. Njen lik bio je simbol bečke kulture, a nazi- vali su ga i austrijskom Mona Lizom. U gornjoj palati dvorca Belvede- re u Beču izložena je najveća kolek- cija slika Gustava Klimta na svetu, između ostalih i čuveni Poljubac .
G ustav Klimt was born in Vienna in 1862, created his best works in this city and died there in 1918, just a few months before the col- lapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the destruction of the world he knew. He had the good fortune to live in Vienna’s golden age, at the end of a century that witnessed thebirthofmodernism.Thisnewartbrought a strong obsession with the erotic, which shocked what was then still a conservative environment.That’s because this was Freud’s Vienna, bursting at the seams with Victorian morality. And Vienna’s enthusiasm for erot- icism found its greatest poet in Klimt. No- body has ever glorified women like Klimt.
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