For many people painter Gustav Klimt is synonymous with gold leaf, as among his most famous paintings are ones that have lots of it on them, such as The Kiss and Hope II. Klimt's painting style is regarded as a mixture of Symbolism and Art Nouveau. Klimt is known to have painted around 230 paintings, of which more than 50 are landscapes and in a style different to most of his other paintings, more tranquil and subdued in color.1
Klimt was born on 14 July 1862 in Baumgarten (near Vienna) in Austria; he died on 6 February 1918 in Vienna. He studied at the School of Applied Art in Vienna and initially worked as a decorative painter. In 1897 he founded the Vienna Secession movement, breaking away from the official Viennese Artists' Association which he regarded as too conservative. One of the principles of the movement was the belief in art for everyone: "We do not recognise any difference between great and minor art, between the art of the rich and that of the poor. Art belongs to all."2
"Klimt's inner passion was for making his understanding more real -- focusing on what constituted the essence of things behind their mere physical appearance."3 Of his paintings, Klimt is quoted as saying: "Whoever wants to know something about me -- as an artist, the only notable thing -- ought to look carefully at my pictures and try to see in them what I am and what I want to do."4
