Women Portraits by Gustav Klimt Boxed Notecard Assortment by Pomegranate

Gustav Klimt (Austrian, 1862–1918) showed the persistent themes of his art: the longings and fears of the human psyche. During the turn of the 20th century, Austrian society was in a state of turbulent change when the culture of prudishness and moral rectitude was collapsing and a new order was being born. These ideas where captured symbolism of works by the Vienna Secession—a group cofounded by Klimt. His sensual paintings are as alluring today as they were to his contemporaries.

Thus in 1899 one of Klimt’s paintings was called “the most beautiful picture ever painted by an Austrian,” while a year later Klimt was excoriated for his new style. The paintings we now see as graceful, quietly sensual, and profoundly appreciative of their subjects were positively frightening to the Austrian sensibility in the early 20th century. Here are five each of four of Klimt’s most beautiful portraits of women.

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