"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." - Vincent Van Gogh

Sunday, August 26, 2012

A little Klimt







Gustave Klimt (1862-1918) is one of my favorite artists. I love the color, flow, movement of his pieces.  He is best known for "The Kiss" seen above.

When I study an artist, I like to get into their personalities to see if I can determine what made them "tick" and paint as they did. Apparently Klimt had a charismatic charm for he not only was a fantastic artist but was also quite the ladies man. You can watch the movie "Klimt" (although as movies about artist's go, that's one I can leave) or read a more interesting fictitious novel about his platonic or was it love affair with his best friend Emilie Floge. It's called The Painted Kiss.

Emilie Floge was the younger sister of Klimt's brother's wife. He painted her portrait for the first time with her sisters when she was just 12 years old. When Klimt's brother and Emilie's sister died, the two of them raised their niece together. Emilie was a clothing designer and created many of the bright clothes that appear in Klimt's art. Klimt is often seen in robes made by Emilie. These two creative souls found synergy together. You will see in history that great artist's had their muses and they were very important in keeping the the inspiration flowing.

What I'm showing you above is just a small peak at Klimt's work. If you'd like to see more you can study him on the web or go to a local bookstore and look through the art section for additional materials. I have a few wonderful books that contain images that I haven't found on the internet. Of course the true joy is viewing a "Klimt" in real time at a museum!

To learn more about Klimt, press here.

Many artists replicate Klimt's work. Tomorrow I will show you an artist that I feel has come the closest to his style and yet added her own twist to the mix.

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