for Klimt's creativity eventually accounting for nearly a quarter of his oeuvre. This shift was in part inspired by a major exhibition of Van Gogh paintings

In modern Dutch, the word for “book” is boek, with beuk meaning “beech tree.” In Swedish, these words are the same, bok meaning both “beech tree” and “book.” Beech Grove I Gustav Klimt: art's greatest womaniser?". The Telegraph. 2 April 2015. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022 . Retrieved 11 December 2019. Though publically known from the outset of his career for his allegorical compositions and female portraits, in the 1890s and afterwards landscape painting became an increasingly important outlet Vienna State Opera, Archive of all Performances: Salome | Neuproduktion vom 22.12.1972, retrieved on 24 August 2023 But after Klimt left school and entered his late twenties, he became increasingly influenced by the Viennese avant-garde. The decadence and intellectual rebelliousness of his peers enthralled him. The Jung-Wien group of writers reacted against moralistic 19th-century literature by exploring dreams and sexuality in their work, while Freud “saw no upright object without interpreting it as erectile, no orifice without potential penetration,” as historian Gilles Neret has pointed out.The landscape as a motif provided Klimt with a solace and solitude that he desired at times following the intensity of his life as an established leader of the Viennese avant-garde. During the autumn and spring of each year, he focused on his famed portraits and allegorical compositions. When the summer months arrived, Klimt, like the rest of the wealthy and intellectual circles of the city, left Vienna to enjoy what was known as Sommerfrische. Keen to escape the heat and dust of the city, many, including the artist, traveled to Salzkammergut, a picturesque and rural area to the east of Salzburg. Gottfried Fliedl, Gustav Klimt, 1862-1918: The World in Female Form, Taschen, 1997, p. 192, ISBN 3822882577 What’s more, Klimt’s mural work pioneered the union of art and architecture that would later influence the Bauhaus and the Russian Constructivists. With Secessionist allies like architect Josef Hoffmann and designer Koloman Moser, Klimt expanded on the notion of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or total artwork. He conceived both his Beethoven Frieze and Stoclet Frieze (1905–11) so they would blend seamlessly with the architecture and furniture that surrounded them.

Beginning in the late 1890s, Klimt took annual summer holidays on the shores of Attersee and painted many of his landscapes there. These landscapes constitute the only genre aside from portrait painting that seriously interested Klimt. The artist cultivated close relationships with some of his clients, who were primarily from the assimilated Jewish Viennese Haute bourgeoisie. He cultivated intimate relationships especially with his models from upper class circles. He was considered progressive for his time, because he allowed women an active role in sexuality. [29] F. Novotny and J. Dobai, Gustav Klimt, Salzburg, 1967, p. 334, no. 136 (illustrated; illustrated again, fig. 50).

“Farm Garden with Sunflowers” by Gustav Klimt

In 1894, Klimt was commissioned to create three 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 " pornographic". [14] Klimt had transformed traditional allegory and symbolism into a new language that was more overtly sexual and hence more disturbing to some. [14] The public outcry came from all quarters—political, aesthetic and religious. As a result, the paintings (seen in gallery below) were not displayed on the ceiling of the Great Hall. [15] 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, [16] [17] together with another ten paintings, including Schubert at the Piano, Girlfriends (or Two Women Friends), Wally (portrait), The Music (II)". [18] [19]