Editing Gustav Klimt (section)

===Vienna Secession years===
[[File:Gustav Klimt 014.jpg|thumb|A section of the ''[[Beethoven Frieze]]'', at [[Secession hall (Austria)|Secession Building]], [[Vienna]] (1902)|273x273px]]In 1894, Klimt was commissioned to create three paintings, known as the ''[[Klimt University of Vienna Ceiling Paintings|Faculty Paintings]],'' to decorate the ceiling of the Great Hall of the University of Vienna. Not completed until the turn of the century, his three paintings, ''Philosophy'', ''Medicine'', and ''Jurisprudence'' were criticized for their radical themes and material, and were called "[[pornography|pornographic]]".{{Sfn | Sabarsky | 1983 | p = 9}} Klimt had transformed traditional [[allegory]] and symbolism into a new language that was more overtly sexual and hence more disturbing to some.{{Sfn | Sabarsky | 1983 | p = 9}} The public outcry came from all quarters—political, aesthetic and religious. As a result, the paintings were not displayed on the ceiling of the Great Hall.<ref>On 11 November 1905, the artistic commission of the ministry of education examined the projects for the panels of the University' Great Hall. The Klimt's ones were welcomed, unlike Matsch's. However, it was proposed not to exhibit them in the Great Hall, but in the [[Österreichische Galerie Belvedere|Österreichische Galerie]]. Klimt rejected the proposal and on 3 April 1905 he wrote to the aforementioned ministry renouncing the assignment, and asking for the return of the sketches, declaring himself willing to return the sum of money that had been advanced to him. In: {{Cite book |last=Dobai |first=Johannes |title=The Complete Works of Klimt |date=1978 |publisher=Rizzoli |location=Milan |page=86 |language=it}}</ref> This was to be the last public commission accepted by the artist. All three paintings were destroyed when retreating German forces burned [[Schloss Immendorf]] in May 1945,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rogoyska |first1=Jane |last2=Bade |first2=Patrick |title=Gustav Klimt |date=2011 |publisher=Parkstone Press International |location=New York |isbn=978-1-78042-729-4 |page=87 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F3b0asmVCtAC&q=Philosophy%2C%20Medicine%2C%20and%20Jurisprudence%20klimt%20ss&pg=PA87 |chapter=Compositional Project for Medicine}}</ref><ref name="SchlossImmendorf">{{cite web | last=Jones | first=Jonathan | title=Jonathan Jones: Klimt's dazzling demons | website=the Guardian | date=2008-05-07 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/may/07/art | access-date=2025-03-27}}</ref> together with another ten paintings, including ''[[Schubert at the Piano]]'', ''Girlfriends'' (or ''Two Women Friends''), ''Wally'' (portrait), ''The Music (II)''.<ref name="Johannes1">Johannes Dobai ''The Complete Works of Klimt'', Rizzoli 1978. pp. 94–110.</ref><ref>According to Storkovich, in reality the alleged burned paintings were ten, not thirteen, as ''Prozession der Toten'' (Procession of the dead, 1903), ''[[Malcesine]] am Gardasee'' (1913) and ''[[Bad Gastein|Gastein]]'' (1917), never came to Immendorf. Furthermore, she believes there is no convincing evidence that Klimt's three university ceiling paintings were actually destroyed. {{Cite web |title=Verbrannte Klimtbilder: Das Puzzle von Immendorf Storkovich |trans-title=The Burned Klimt Paintings: The Puzzle about Immendorf |last=Storkovich |first=Tina Marie |url=http://diepresse.com/home/spectrum/zeichenderzeit/4890667/Verbrannte-Klimtbilder_Das-Puzzle-von-Immendorf |website=Die Presse |date=18 December 2015 |access-date=4 July 2023 |language=de}}</ref>

Klimt became one of the founding members and president of the ''[[Vienna Secession|Wiener Secession]]'' in 1897 and of the group's periodical, ''[[Ver Sacrum (magazine)|Ver Sacrum]]'' ("Sacred Spring"). He remained with the ''Secession'' until 1908. The goals of the group were to provide exhibitions for unconventional young artists, to bring the works of the best foreign artists to Vienna, and to publish its own magazine to showcase the work of members.{{Sfn|Whitford|1990|p=69}} The group declared no [[manifesto]] and did not set out to encourage any particular style—[[Naturalist school of painting|Naturalists]], [[Realism (arts)|Realists]], and [[Symbolist painting|Symbolists]] all coexisted. The government supported their efforts and gave them a lease on public land to erect an [[Secession Building|exhibition hall]]. The group's symbol was [[Pallas Athena]], the [[Greek mythology|Greek]] goddess of just causes, wisdom, and the arts—of whom Klimt painted his radical version in 1898.<ref name="PallasAthene">{{cite web | title=Pallas Athene, 1898 by Gustav Klimt | website=Gustav Klimt | url=https://www.gustav-klimt.com/Pallas-Athene.jsp | access-date=2025-03-27}}</ref>

His ''Nuda Veritas'' (1899) defined his bid to further "shake up" the establishment.<ref name="Klimt Nuda Veritas 1899">{{cite web |url=http://www.klimt.com/en/gallery/early-works/klimt-nuda-veritas-1899.ihtml |series=Gustav Klimt Painting |title= Early Works / Nuda Veritas 1899 |work= Klimt Gallery |publisher= Klimt Museum |access-date=5 July 2013}}</ref> The starkly naked red-headed woman holds the mirror of truth, while above her is a quotation by [[Friedrich Schiller]] in stylized lettering: "If you cannot please everyone with your deeds and your art, please only a few. To please many is bad."{{Sfn | Whitford | 1990 | p = 52}} In 1902, animated by resentment Klimt wanted to title the painting ''Gold Fish'' (in which a naked woman ostentatiously and maliciously shows her butt), "To my critics", but was dissuaded by friends.<ref name="Johannes1" />

In 1902, Klimt finished the ''[[Beethoven Frieze]]'' for the Fourteenth Vienna Secessionist Exhibition, which was intended to be a celebration of the composer and featured a monumental [[polychrome]] sculpture by [[Max Klinger]]. Intended for the exhibition only, the frieze was painted directly on the walls with light materials. After the exhibition the painting was preserved, although it was not displayed again until restored in 1986. The face on the Beethoven portrait resembled the composer and [[Vienna State Opera|Vienna Court Opera]] director [[Gustav Mahler]].<ref>Johnson, Julian, ''Mahler's Voices: Expression and Irony in the Songs and Symphonies''. Oxford University Press (Oxford, UK), {{ISBN|978-0-19-537239-7}}, p. 235 (2009).</ref>

In 1905, dissensions within the ''Secession'' increased, and when the artistic consultant of the [[Galerie Miethke|Galerie Mietkhe]] [[Carl Moll]] was attacked by colleagues of the ''Secession'' for his work, a strong controversy arose which created a real internal split, led by Klimt. The following year, Klimt formed the group called "[[Kunstschau Wien 1908|Kunstschau]]" (Art Show) or "Klimt group", which also included Moll and [[Otto Wagner]], among other important Austrian artists.<ref>Johannes Dobai ''The Complete Works of Klimt'', Rizzoli 1978. p. 86.</ref>

During this period Klimt did not confine himself to public commissions. Beginning in the late 1890s he took annual summer holidays with the Flöge family on the shores of [[Attersee (lake)|Attersee]] and painted many of his landscapes there, such as ''[[Schloss by the Water]]''. These landscapes constitute the only genre aside from [[figure painting]] that seriously interested Klimt. In recognition of his intensity, the locals called him ''Waldschrat'' ("forest demon").<ref>{{Citation |last=Koja |first=Stephan |others=et al |title=Gustav Klimt Landscapes |page=27 |publisher=Prestel |year=2002}}</ref>

Klimt's Attersee paintings are of sufficient number and quality to merit a separate appreciation. Formally, the landscapes are characterized by the same refinement of design and emphatic patterning as the figural pieces. Deep space in the Attersee works is flattened so efficiently to a single plane that it is believed that Klimt painted them by using a telescope.<ref>{{Citation |first=Anselm |last=Wagner |chapter=Klimt's Landscapes and the Telescope |title=Gustav Klimt Landscapes |pages=161–71 |publisher=Prestel |year=2002}}</ref>