Flower Garden (detail)By Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt (1862 – 1918) was a brilliant Austrian iconoclast who rose from childhood impoverishment to become an artist who enormously impacted the Viennese Secession and Art Nouveau movement. Known for elaborate, explicitly sensual paintings and murals, Klimt’s works also encompass themes of regeneration, love and death. Embedding his work with images symbolizing the freedom of art from traditional Western culture, Klimt’s eclectic range of influences included Egyptian, Classical Greek, Byzantine and Medieval styles. A forerunner of Modernism and the Art Deco movements, Klimt’s huge creative influence still resonates in modern art, decorations and jewelry.