Vienna Media News 11/2011 All eyes on Gustav Klimt

The Gustav Klimt at the Kunsthistorisches Museum exhibition features 13 important works by the Austrian painter plus the studies he sketched for them. In 1890 the Maler Compagnie - consisting of Gustav Klimt, his brother Ernst and fellow artist Franz Matsch - was commissioned to design the spandrel paintings and the narrow intercolumnular works for the grand staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Klimt's pictures reveal the early signs of the symbolism that later came to hallmark Austrian art nouveau, or Jugendstil. This portfolio of works set the early stylistic tone for his world famous turn-of-the-century and post-1900 artistic output.

The Leopold Museum in Vienna's MusuemsQuartier will be hanging major works by Egon Schiele and several other Secession artists alongside paintings by Gustav Klimt as part of an anniversary exhibition. Among the many exhibits from the estate of Klimt's lifelong companion Emilie Flöge will be examples of the artist's prolific written correspondence. Klimt sometimes sent his muse several postcards in the course of a single day. These travel logs are presented in the context of his major sketches and pictures.

The Albertina, a research centre for Gustav Klimt's work as a draftsman, will put the majority of the works from its 170-piece collection on display to give an unparalleled overview of all the artist's stylistic phases. The pieces from the Albertina's holdings will be joined by various loan exhibits in a special 150th anniversary show. Thematically, the focus is provided by Klimt's unique talent as a sketch artist whose intellectual approach and working methods come to the fore in numerous figural studies and his precisely executed allegories.

Gustav Klimt at the Kunsthistorisches Museum

Feb 14-May 6, 2012
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Maria-Theresien-Platz, 1010 Vienna
www.khm.at

Klimt: Up Close and Personal. Images, Letters, Insights

Feb 24-Jun 11, 2012
Leopold Museum, Museumsplatz 1, MuseumsQuartier, 1070 Vienna
www.leopoldmuseum.org

Gustav Klimt. The Drawings

Mar 14-Jun 10, 2012
Albertina, Albertinaplatz 1, 1010 Vienna
www.albertina.at