Gustav Klimt - One of the greatest erotic painters and graphic artists of his times

Gustav Klimt's art is thoroughly fin de siècle. It expresses the apocalyptic atmosphere of Vienna's upper middle-class society - a society devoted to the cultivation of aesthetic awareness and the cult of pleasure.

The ecstatic joy which Klimt and his contemporaries found - or hoped to find - in beauty was constantly overshadowed by death. And 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 and graphic artists of his times.

Particularly his drawings, which have been widely admired for their artistic excellence, are dominated by the erotic portrayal of women. Klimt saw the world "in female form."

About the Series:
Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Art Series features:

a detailed chronological summary of the artist's life and work, covering the cultural and historical importance of the artist
approximately 100 color illustrations with explanatory captions
a concise biography

Gilles Néret (1933-2005) was an art historian, journalist, writer, and museum correspondent. He organized several art retrospectives in Japan and founded the SEIBU museum and the Wildenstein Gallery in Tokyo. He directed art reviews such as L'Oeil and Conaissance des Arts and received the Elie Faure Prize in 1981 for his publications. Néret's many titles for TASCHEN include Salvador Dalí - The Paintings, Matisse, and Erotica Universalis.