Gustav Klimt's macabres

Life and Death (1908-1911)

O Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) ήταν Αυστριακός συμβολιστής ζωγράφος, η βασική θεματολογία του ήταν το γυναικείο σώμα, η femme fatale και ένας αγνός ερωτισμός. Εχει εκλεκτικιστικές επιδράσεις από πολλές εποχές, Μινωική & ελληνική αρχαιότητα, Βυζάντιο, Ιαπωνική τέχνη, κλπ. Χρησιμοποιεί πληθώρα σχεδίων, γεωμετρικών και μη, χρυσαφιές αποχρώσεις, φαλλικά σύμβολα κλπ, που συχνά καλύπτουν τις πιο ερωτικές στάσεις των μορφών του. Διακρίνω και κάποιες ομοιότητες στο στυλ με τον Aubrey Vincent Beardsley. Επίσης, παρ' όλα τα φανταχτερά και χαρούμενα χρώματα, σχέδια και χρυσαφιές αναλαμπές, κλπ, που κυριαρχούν στα έργα του, δύσκολα παραπέμπουν στο μακάβριο, σε κάποια από αυτά, ο θάνατος και το μακάβριο έχουν μια διακριτική αλλά απειλητική παρουσία.

Beethoven Frieze (1902)

Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects. Klimt's primary subject was the female body and his works are marked by a frank eroticism.

The Hope (1903)

Klimt's work is often distinguished by elegant gold or coloured decoration, spirals and swirls, and phallic shapes used to conceal the more erotic positions of the drawings upon which many of his paintings are based. One of the most common themes Klimt used was that of the dominant woman, the femme fatale. Art historians note an eclectic range of influences contributing to Klimt's distinct style, including Egyptian, Minoan, Classical Greek, and Byzantine inspirations. Klimt was also inspired by the engravings of Albrecht Dürer, late medieval European painting, and Japanese Rimpa school. His mature works are characterized by a rejection of earlier naturalistic styles, and make use of symbols or symbolic elements to convey psychological ideas and emphasize the "freedom" of art from traditional culture. (wikipedia)

The Hope II (1907-1908)

I also have noticed that has some similarities with Aubrey Vincent Beardsley. Of course Klimt's full of colour patterns erotic paintings little have to do with creepy themes, but death and macabre seem to have a concealed and lurking presence in some of his works.

The three ages of a woman (1905)