Lower Belvedere
3 February to 29 May 2023
Which works by Vincent van Gogh did Gustav Klimt actually know? How familiar was he with Henry Matisse’s oeuvre? Together with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Belvedere traces the demonstrable influence of those avant-garde artists on the great master of Viennese Modernism. The exhibition also includes works that do not usually go on loan due to their fragile condition. With Water Serpents II, last shown publicly in Austria in 1964, one of Klimt's major works returns to Vienna.
General Director Stella Rollig: “How could we start the Belvedere anniversary year 2023 more festively than with an exhibition dedicated to Gustav Klimt? Without a doubt, this presentation provides fresh perspectives and a selection of magnificent works, some of which are being shown in Vienna for the first time or have not been seen in decades. We also see Klimt in a new light: as an open and innovative artist who studied other art and never made a secret of his sources, and who was always curious about changing trends, incorporating them into his own work.”
The comprehensive show at the Lower Belvedere highlights the impact of significant Western European artists on Gustav Klimt's work. Carefully chosen comparisons of his paintings with works of art that had a verifiable influence on him create an exciting dialogue, with works by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, and Jan Toorop, as well as Claude Monet, Auguste Rodin, Vincent van Gogh, and Henri Matisse. In what ways did they inspire Klimt? How did he translate these influences into his own visual language?
According to curator Markus Fellinger: “Klimt is often considered a solitary genius, one whose creativity emerged from within and was shaped by the circumstances that prevailed in his immediate environment in 'Vienna around 1900.' Our exhibition shows a very different Klimt. Many of his contemporaries were aware of the extent to which his work was influenced by the most modern artists of his day, whom he met at the Secession, the Galerie Miethke, and other places. Through a series of clear comparisons, we illustrate how Klimt was able to assimilate the artistic achievements of the time into the development of his own work with unerring instinct.”
Basis of the exhibition is an extensive research project launched in 2015 by the Belvedere and the Van Gogh Museum that investigated the question of which works of international modern art Klimt could have actually encountered, whether in exhibitions and collections in Vienna; during numerous trips abroad to Munich, Venice, or Paris; or through reproductions in publications. Important exhibition venues such as the Secession and the Galerie Miethke – as well as lesser-known institutions and important Austrian private collections such as those of Carl Reininghaus or the Wittgenstein family – were thoroughly investigated. In addition, period publications were reviewed and Klimt's travel activities were traced for references to exhibition and gallery visits.
The information gathered provides the exhibition with a sound scientific foundation and gives a sense of the prominence and presence of international modern art in Vienna. A fresh understanding of Klimt's artistic development emerges through the juxtaposition of his works with those that inspired him during his creative process. In response to the diverse impressions he gained, especially from the exhibitions that followed the founding of the Secession, his style continuously changed and evolved, demonstrating his keen awareness of the artistic movements of the day.
The exhibition shows some ninety paintings, drawings, and sculptures by Gustav Klimt and his contemporaries.
Curators: Markus Fellinger (Belvedere, Vienna); Edwin Becker and Renske Suijver (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam)
Assistant curators: Stephanie Auer (Belvedere, Vienna) and Lisa Smit (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam)
EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
Klimt. Inspired by Van Gogh, Rodin, Matisse Editors: Stella Rollig, Markus Fellinger (Belvedere), Emilie E. S. Gordenker, Edwin Becker (Van Gogh Museum) Authors: Stephanie Auer, Edwin Becker, Marian Bisanz-Prakken, Markus Fellinger, Lisa Smit, Renske Suijver Graphic design: Joseph Plateau, Amsterdam Binding: hardcover Publisher: Hirmer Verlag GmbH Number of pages: 240 Format: 23 x 29,8 cm Available in English, German and Dutch ISBN: 978-94-93070-42-4 (EN)
Images
Private collection, courtesy of HomeArt
Gustav Klimt, Johanna Staude, 1917/1918
Foto: Johannes Stoll / Belvedere, Wien
Henri Matisse, The Girl with Green Eyes, 1908
Photo: Ben Blackwell © Succession H. Matisse / Bildrecht, Vienna 2022
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, bequest of Harriet Lane Levy
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Gustav Klimt, Freundinnen (Wasserschlangen I), 1904
© Belvedere, Wien
Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, Embroidered Panels, c. 1902-04
The Glasgow School of Art
Gustav Klimt, Blühender Mohn, 1907
Foto: Johannes Stoll / Belvedere, Wien
Ferdinand Hodler, Ergriffenheit, 1900
© Belvedere, Wien
Gustav Klimt, Avenue in the Park of Schloss Kammer, 1912
Photo: Belvedere, Wien
Gustav Klimt, Judith, 1901
Photo: Belvedere, Wien
Gustav Klimt, Eugenia Primavesi, 1913
Toyota Municipal Museum of Art
Vincent Van Gogh, Orchard in Blossom, 1889
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Vincent Van Gogh, Field with Irises near Arles, 1888
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Claude Monet, Branch of the Seine near Giverny (Mist), 1897
The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
Gustav Klimt, A Morning by the Pond, 1899
Leopold Museum, Vienna
John Singer Sargent, Study for Madame Gautreau, c. 1884
Tate, London, Presented by Lord Duveen through the Art Fund 1925
Gustav Klimt, Portrait of a Lady, 1894
permanent loan from a private collection
Photo: Johannes Stoll / Belvedere, Vienna
ARTISTS (30)
André Derain (1917 Zurich - 1994 Vienna) Auguste Rodin (1840 Paris – 1917 Meudon) Cuno Amiet (1868 Solothurn – 1961 Oschwand) Édouard Manet (1832 Paris – 1883 Paris) Ferdinand Hodler (1853 Berne – 1918 Geneva) Franz von Stuck (1863 Tettenweis – 1928 Munich) Aubrey Beardsley (1872 Brighton – 1898 Menton) Claude Monet (1840 Paris – 1926 Giverny) Edmond Aman-Jean (1858 Chevry-Cossigny – 1936 Paris) Edvard Munch (1863 Løten – 1944 Skoten near Oslo) Fernand Khnopff (1858 Grembergen-lez-Termonde – 1921 Brussels) George Minne (1866 Ghent – 1941 Laethem-Saint-Martin) Georges Seurat (1859 Paris – 1891 Paris) Gustav Klimt (1867 Vienna– 1931 Vienna) Henri Matisse (1869 Le Cateau-Cambrésis – 1954 Cimiez) James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834 Massachusetts – 1903 London) John Singer Sargent (1856 Florence – 1925 London)
Giovanni Segantini (1858 Arco – 1899 Schafberg) Hans Makart (1840 Salzburg – 1884 Vienna) Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864 Albi – 1901 Château Malromé [Gironde]) Jan Toorop (1858 Purworejo [Java] – 1928 The Hague) Kees van Dongen (1877 Delfshaven – 1968 Monte Carlo)
Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836 Dronrijp – 1912 Wiesbaden) Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (1864 Tipton – 1933 London) Max Klinger (1857 Leipzig – 1920 Großjena) Pierre Bonnard (1867 Fontenay-aux-Roses – 1947 Le Cannet) Théo Van Rysselberghe (1862 Ghent – 1926 Saint-Clair) Paul Cézanne (1839 Aix-en-Provence – 1906 Aix-en-Provence) Sascha Schneider (1870 St. Petersburg – 1927 Swinoujscie) Vincent van Gogh (1853 Groot-Zundert – 1890 Auvers-sur-Oise)
KLIMT AND HIS TIME - ENCOUNTERS WITH INTERNATIONAL ART
1862 Klimt is born in Baumgarten, a suburb of Vienna. His father is a self-employed engraver with a small studio and a modest income. 1873 Vienna World’s Fair at the Prater, including a major art exhibition. Claude Monet exhibits a small painting that goes largely unnoticed. Further major exhibitions of international art are held at the Künstlerhaus and the Österreichischer Kunstverein (Austrian Art Society), featuring key works by Gustave Courbet. 1874 First exhibition in Paris of works by a group of artists who would become known as the Impressionists. 1876 Klimt starts his education at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts) in Vienna. 1878 After two years attending the preparatory course, Klimt is accepted in Ferdinand Laufberger’s class at the school of painting. He starts collaborating with his younger brother Ernst and their mutual friend, Franz Matsch. Even as students, they work on major commissions together. Reports about the Impressionists’ exhibitions begin to appear in the Viennese press.
1880 Rodin starts on the designs for his masterpiece, The Gates of Hell, which he would continue to work on until shortly before his death. 1883 In summer, Klimt completes his studies at the Vienna School of Applied Arts and establishes a joint studio with his brother Ernst and Franz Matsch. A major International Art Exhibition is held in Munich; the Vienna Künstlerhaus shows reproductions of masterpieces from across Europe. The ceiling paintings for Liberec city theater—a joint project by the Klimt brothers and Franz Matsch—reveal the influence of a Western European master, Alexandre Cabanel, for the first time in Klimt’s work. Death of Édouard Manet and Eva Gonzalès in Paris. 1884 Death of Hans Makart, Vienna’s preeminent artist. Georges Seurat develops Pointillism. 1886 The ceiling paintings for the grand staircases at the Burgtheater are the first major commission in Vienna to be awarded to the Klimt and Matsch Atelier. The artists start looking to Lawrence Alma-Tadema and move away from the influence of Hans Makart. The School of Pont-Aven is formed around Paul Gauguin.
1888 Klimt in all likelihood travels to the major International Art Exhibition in Munich, which includes numerous key works by James McNeill Whistler. Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin work together in Arles for nine weeks. In Paris, the Nabis emerge as a group of artists centered around Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard. 1890 Klimt becomes established as Vienna’s leading painter. First trip to Venice. Lawrence Alma-Tadema is still his main source of inspiration for the paintings around the staircase at the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The influence of works by Frederic Leighton can also be identified. Vincent van Gogh dies in Auvers-sur-Oise. 1892 Foundation of the Munich Secession. Works by Franz von Stuck, its co-founder, are showcased at the Vienna Künstlerhaus and cause a sensation. Edvard Munch’s first exhibition in Berlin ends in scandal. The death of Klimt’s father, closely followed by his brother Ernst, plunges Klimt into a deep personal crisis.
1894 The Third International Art Exhibition at the Vienna Künstlerhaus shows hardly any modern art. Dissatisfaction about this conservative environment builds among young artists and critics. In December, Franz von Stuck again exhibits at the Vienna Künstlerhaus, this time with the Munich Secession. These impressions prompt Klimt to turn away from academic painting. He paints his first works revealing a completely new approach to color, emulating Stuck and other modern painters. 1897 In April, Klimt and a group of progressive artists leave the Künstlerhaus and found the Vienna Secession. In summer, Klimt first encounters paintings by Claude Monet in the International Art Exhibition at Munich’s Glaspalast. 1898 The Secession’s first exhibition presents an overview of contemporary art in Europe with the work of 131 foreign artists. Klimt finds new sources of inspiration in the art of Auguste Rodin and Fernand Khnopff. From April, paintings by Claude Monet are shown at the Künstlerhaus jubilee exhibition, the artist’s first appearance in Vienna since 1873. Shortly afterward, Klimt paints his first landscapes during his summer vacation in the Salzkammergut. Klimt becomes a corresponding member of both the Munich Secession and the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers in London.
1899 The third Secession exhibition opens in January showing Pointillist paintings by Théo Van Rysselberghe. In May, while on a trip to Italy, Klimt visits the Venice Biennale, where two of his paintings are on show. There he sees works by James McNeill Whistler, Claude Monet, Ferdinand Hodler, and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, all of major significance for his further development as an artist. Giovanni Segantini dies in Pontresina. 1900 The media storm around Klimt’s Faculty Paintings begins to rage. Klimt exhibits Philosophy, Sonja Knips, and Pallas Athene at the Paris World’s Fair and wins a gold medal. His planned trip to the French capital is abandoned. The seventh Secession exhibition brings to Vienna the art of Paul Signac, Fernand Khnopff, and Jan Toorop; the eighth exhibition includes works by George Minne and the Glasgow Four, the collective centered around Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh and Charles Rennie Mackintosh. 1901 The ninth Secession exhibition showcases Giovanni Segantini and Auguste Rodin. In autumn, Klimt creates the Beethoven Frieze, although this is not displayed until 1902. Opening in December, the twelfth Secession exhibition brings to Vienna works by Jan Toorop, Edvard Munch, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, and Ferdinand Hodler. Death of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
1902 The Beethoven Exhibition, featuring Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze, runs from April to June at the Vienna Secession. Klimt and Auguste Rodin meet in Vienna during the exhibition. 1903 At the beginning of the year, the Secession shows a comprehensive exhibition about Impressionism, with major works by all its key exponents. It also covers Post- and Neo-Impressionism. The names of artists like Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, Édouard Vuillard, and Pierre Bonnard first appear in the Austrian press as a result. Foundation of the Wiener Werkstätte in May. In November, Klimt’s first major solo exhibition opens at the Secession. After this, he travels to Venice, Ravenna, and other destinations in Northern Italy. James McNeill Whistler dies in London; Paul Gauguin dies in French Polynesia. 1904 The nineteenth exhibition of the Secession focuses on works by Ferdinand Hodler, Cuno Amiet, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, and Edvard Munch. 1905 An exhibition of Aubrey Beardsley’s work is held at Galerie Miethke in January. In May, Klimt travels to Berlin to the second exhibition of the Deutscher Künstlerbund (Association of German Artists). He has his own room at the show and is awarded the Villa Romana Prize. At the same time, a Van Gogh exhibition is shown at Kunstsalon Cassirer in Berlin. Carl Moll becomes artistic director of Galerie Miethke. The resulting internal disputes cause Klimt and his followers to leave the Secession. Moll transforms Galerie Miethke into the premier venue for international modern art in Vienna. Henri Matisse, André Derain, and Maurice de Vlaminck develop Fauvism. The artist group Die Brücke (The Bridge) is formed in Dresden.
1906 Galerie Miethke stages a major Van Gogh exhibition in January. Klimt travels to London, Brussels, Berlin, and Dresden. Paul Cézanne dies in Aix-en-Provence. 1907 Klimt finishes his portrait Adele BlochBauer I (“Golden Adele”); Pablo Picasso completes his early masterpiece Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. In March and April, a major Gauguin exhibition is held at Galerie Miethke, also featuring works by Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat, Henri Matisse, and other modern French artists. Klimt travels to Berlin in November. 1908 Klimt and his circle, the so-called Klimt Group, organize the Wiener Kunstschau. Auguste Rodin exhibits eighty drawings at Kunstsalon Heller in Vienna. 1909 At the Internationale Kunstschau, the Klimt Group again brings together modern trends in European art, including works by Vincent van Gogh and Henri Matisse. Between mid-October and early November, Klimt and Carl Moll travel to Paris, Madrid, and Toledo. Klimt visits the Salon d’Automne, in which works by Matisse are exhibited. He also views many public and private collections, where he admires the art of Édouard Manet and Paul Cézanne. Toulouse Lautrec exhibition at Galerie Miethke (mid-October to late November). Matisse publishes his “Notes of a Painter” in the journal Kunst und Künstler. These new experiences lead to the end of Klimt’s Golden Period and a dramatic stylistic shift to his more expressive late work.
1910 Exhibition of works by Édouard Manet and Claude Monet at Galerie Miethke. At the ninth Venice Biennale, a room is devoted to Klimt’s art. 1912 Klimt finishes his mosaic frieze for Palais Stoclet in Brussels. He paints Adele BlochBauer II and Paula Zuckerkandl, the first portraits in the style of his late work. Both are significantly inspired by Chinese applied art. In Paris, František Kupka is the first artist to show an abstract painting at a public exhibition. 1913 At the beginning of the year, the exhibition New Art is held at Galerie Miethke featuring works by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Paul Signac, as well as the new generation of artists, including Pablo Picasso, André Derain, and Kees van Dongen. 1914 Galerie Miethke stages a Picasso exhibition (February to March) and a Derain exhibition (March to April). In May, Klimt travels to Brussels, where he admires traditional African art at the Musée du Congo. Outbreak of World War I while Klimt is on his summer vacation at the Attersee lake. Artistic exchange with Western Europe effectively draws to a halt.
1917 Klimt participates in exhibitions in Nuremberg, Stockholm, and Copenhagen. He starts working on his final major painting The Bride, which would remain unfinished. Edgar Degas dies in Paris. 1918 Klimt has a stroke on the morning of January 11. In hospital he becomes seriously ill with pneumonia; he dies on February 6.
