Gustav Klimt&s ornate art expresses the apocalyptic atmosphere of Vienna&s upper middle-class society around the turn of the 20th century
- a society devoted to the cultivation of aesthetic awareness & the cult of pleasure The ecstatic joy which Klimt (1862-1918) & his contemporaries found
- or hoped to find
- in beauty was constantly overshadowed by death & death therefore plays an important role in Klimt&s art Klimt&s fame however rests on his reputation as one of the greatest erotic painters & graphic artists of his times His drawings in particular which have been widely admired for their artistic excellence are dominated by the sensual portrayal of women