Modernism Vienna, Klimt, and Feminism - 808 Words

Vienna was a city in turmoil at the end of the nineteenth century. Society was changing; women were beginning to gain power; art was changing. Gustav Klimt and his Vienna Secession played a great role in this modernization of Vienna. Klimt began as an academic painter; however, after both his father and brother died, his style began to change. He helped found the Vienna Secession, and he began to draw and paint nude models. He never married, but he had multiple affairs with his models. During the 1890s—due to all the changes in his life and the city around him—his lifestyle and therefore artistic style began to completely and radically change from heavily academic art to extremely scandalous, almost pornographic work. The rise of feminism and general empowerment of women in Vienna stimulated the Vienna Secession, specifically Gustav Klimt’s work, which also assisted the growth of feminist movements. Gustav Klimt and Viennese feminist movements had a symbiotic rel ationship, each helping and needing the other succeed. Klimt was not a feminist; however, without the feminist movements of Vienna, he would not have been nearly as successful. He enjoyed the eroticization of women, and his work was rebellious in its portrayal of nude women. Even his work that did not actually depict nude women was still extremely sexual, and it was offensive due to its highly erotic and taboo nature. Klimt’s art astounded the Viennese population and became a scandal, making it more well-known.