Death and Life
Artist: Gustav Klimt
Year Composed: 1915
Artistic Movement: Romanticism
Nationality: Austria
Floor Found in Château: Third Garden
Year Composed: 1915
Artistic Movement: Romanticism
Nationality: Austria
Floor Found in Château: Third Garden
About the Artwork
As a vanitas style of painting (which shows the progression of a person's life as well as their ultimate death), Gustav Klimt painted his portrayal of Death and Life in 1915. Still highlighting the erotic intimacy seen within his style and figures, Klimt showcases a group of people on the right side of the canvas (Life) while a cloaked skeleton is alone on the left (Death). Instead of any timidness or morbid expressions, Klimt paints portrayals of hope and love within the group of people, allowing audiences to feel those same emotions in the face of death.
About the Artist
Born within the Austrian Empire, Gustav Klimt was known for the feminine, romantic expressions and figures within his paintings. Working in the Romantic Age of art, Klimt was able to capture the raw feelings and emotions within a scene while, at the same time, sparking the historical nature of the Austrian and Viennese cultures. These characteristics can be seen within his Judith II (1909), the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907), and his Judith and the Head of Holofernes (1901).
About the Movement
Death and Life was composed in the Romantic Age of art. Romantic art originated in Europe during the end of the 18th Century (or the end of the 1700s), and spread through the middle of the 19th Century (or the 1800s). It emphasizes emotion and feeling of individuals as well as almost glorifying nature and history. Unlike the Baroque and Renaissance where the focus was more Classical in nature, Romantic art focused more on the Medieval, adding sort of a heroic sense to the artworks. Some of the most famous Romantic artists included Eugène Delacroix, J.M.W. Turner, and Francisco Goya.
Location of Original Work of Art: Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria
As a vanitas style of painting (which shows the progression of a person's life as well as their ultimate death), Gustav Klimt painted his portrayal of Death and Life in 1915. Still highlighting the erotic intimacy seen within his style and figures, Klimt showcases a group of people on the right side of the canvas (Life) while a cloaked skeleton is alone on the left (Death). Instead of any timidness or morbid expressions, Klimt paints portrayals of hope and love within the group of people, allowing audiences to feel those same emotions in the face of death.
About the Artist
Born within the Austrian Empire, Gustav Klimt was known for the feminine, romantic expressions and figures within his paintings. Working in the Romantic Age of art, Klimt was able to capture the raw feelings and emotions within a scene while, at the same time, sparking the historical nature of the Austrian and Viennese cultures. These characteristics can be seen within his Judith II (1909), the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907), and his Judith and the Head of Holofernes (1901).
About the Movement
Death and Life was composed in the Romantic Age of art. Romantic art originated in Europe during the end of the 18th Century (or the end of the 1700s), and spread through the middle of the 19th Century (or the 1800s). It emphasizes emotion and feeling of individuals as well as almost glorifying nature and history. Unlike the Baroque and Renaissance where the focus was more Classical in nature, Romantic art focused more on the Medieval, adding sort of a heroic sense to the artworks. Some of the most famous Romantic artists included Eugène Delacroix, J.M.W. Turner, and Francisco Goya.
Location of Original Work of Art: Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria