NGV Vienna Art and Design - Klimt Schiele Hoffmann Loos

Painting

With the establishment of the Vienna Secession in 1897, painting in Vienna began a journey of radical change and inventiveness.

• Gustav Klimt
• Egon Schiele
• Oskar Kokoschka
• Kolomon Moser

The early years of the Secession were dominated by Gustav Klimt's ambitious, controversial paintings, which underwent an extraordinary transition during this time.

The contrast between Klimt's detailed rendering of the Old Burgtheater interior in 1882 and his compelling ceiling paintings made for Vienna University some ten years later is breath-taking. Similarly, his Beethoven Frieze (1901–1902) with its use of dark and strange symbolism demonstrates Klimt's evolving style.

After the split in the Secession in 1905, Klimt (with Josef Hoffmann) organised two Kunstschau (art shows) in 1908 and 1909. These marked a turning point in Viennese art, launching the next generation of artists including Oskar Kokoschka, a painter of dramatic expressive power.

The second Kunstschau featured many of Europe's important avant-garde painters such as Gauguin, van Gogh, Munch and Matisse. It was also where the young artist Egon Schiele made his debut. Though his debt to Klimt was evident, Schiele soon established his own vision and brought to Viennese art a startling and frank confrontation with sex and the self.