The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Belvedere in Vienna co-organize the exhibitions Golden Boy Gustav Klimt. Inspired by Van Gogh, Rodin, Matisse at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam from October 7, 2022 until January 8, 2023 and Klimt. Inspired by Van Gogh, Rodin, Matisse at the Belvedere in Vienna from February 3 until May 29, 2023.
The Hirmer catalogue is already out (English edition: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr; German edition: Amazon.de). Here my review based on the book about the upcoming exhibition, which is the work of the curators Markus Fellinger and Stephanie Auer (Belvedere) as well as Edwin Becker, Lisa Smit and Renske Suijver (Van Gogh Museum), who all contributed essays to the catalogue as well, in addition to Stephanie Auer and Marian Bisanz-Prakken.
According to Stella Rollig, Artistic Director / CEO of the Belvedere, and Emilie E.S. Gordenker, General Director of the Van Gogh Museum, for various reasons, Gustav Klimt‘s works did initially not enjoy the status that they do today. Even for some prominent Viennese contemporaries, including the architect and theorist of modern architecture Adolf Loos and the journalist and writer Karl Kraus, he was dismissed as a superficial “decorator”. One of the most import was factors was his limited direct contact with influential personalities of the Western European avant-garde and his lack of noteworthy influence on artistic developments in Paris. Ironically, his ranking as a leading modernist was only restored with the advent of the postmodern perspectives in art-historical discourse. It was precisely because of the absence of Western contacts that he and others, including Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann, Otto Wagner and Alfred Roller, developed an independent movement, now summarized under the heading “Vienna 1900” (German article about the Leopold Museum exhibition on the subject).
Modern European art was omnipresent in Vienna in around 1900 – in the Vienna Secession, in galleries, art magazines and private collections. The Viennese artist Gustav Klimt was receptive for the pictorial language of his contemporaries such as Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, Auguste Rodin, Ferdinand Hodler, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, the Belgian Symbolist Fernand Khnopff, Toulouse-Lautrec, Whistler and Henri Matisse, and adapted elements from a variety of artistic styles. The encounter between his works and those of artists of Western European modernism reveals significant and often surprising parallels. Klimt’s style constantly changed and evolved in response to these various impressions, especially those gained from the exhibitions at the Secession. He observed and absorbed the artistic trends of his day, masterfully extracting from these influences the elements that most suited his artistic aims and independently adapting these to his needs. Klimt made no secret of his sources. On the contrary, his “stylistic quotations” are like bowing before his models’ creators, according to Stella Rolli and Emilie E.S. Gordenker.
The curator Lisa Smit evaluated sources found in archives, libraries and personal messages. As far as possible, the curatorial team selected works that were documented as known to Klimt, their influences visible through direct comparison with his own art. Only in exceptional cases, such as when key pictures were not available, were similar works chosen instead.
The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Belvedere in Vienna will present paintings and drawings by Gustav Klimt, including masterpieces from all his different periods. The will enter in a dialogue with important works by the most famous Western European artists of his day, including examples by Vincent van Gogh, Auguste Rodin and Henri Matisse, highlighted in the title, as well as many others.
At the beginning, the catalogue Klimt. Inspired by Van Gogh, Rodin, Matisse (English edition: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr; German edition: Amazon.de) offers an overview entitled “Klimt and his Time”. Klimt was born in Baumgarten, a suburb of Vienna, in 1862, the second of seven children of the engraver and goldsmith Ernst Klimt from Bohemia and a mother, Anna Rosalia Finster, from Vienna.
From 1876 until 1883, Gustav Klimt studied at the School of Applied Arts (Kunstgewerbeschule) in Vienna. At 17, together with his fellow student Franz Matsch, he forms a partnership with his father Ernst Klimt to paint walls and ceilings on the relatively new Vienna Ring Road (Ringstrasse), which was built from 1857 until the 1890s. In 1891, Gustav joins the Künstlerhaus, the leading society of Viennese artists. In 1897, together with other artists, he left the Künstlerhaus and founded the Vienna Secession, which organizes its first exhibition the following year.
Among the famous artists visiting Vienna, let’s just mention the French sculptor and painter Auguste Rodin, who met Klimt in 1902, the Swiss Ferdinand Hodler, who had a strong connection with Vienna (German article) who visited the Austrian capital in 1903 and 1904.
In 1913, Galerie Miethke organized the exhibition New Art (Die Neue Kunst) which showed works by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Paul Signac as well as the new generation of artists, including Pablo Picasso, André Derain and Kees van Dongen. The following year, Galerie Miethke exhibited again Pablo Picasso and André Derain. The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 brought almost all international artistic exchange to a halt. During the war, on January 11, 1918 Klimt suffered a stroke. While recovering he caught pneumonia and died on February 6, at the age of only 55.
In the essay “Shaking Viennese Art from its Slumber”, Lisa Smit, Renske Suijver and Edwin Becker explain, among many other things, that the artist Carl Moll was a pivotal figure in the cross-border network of artistic exchange. He was a natural organizer who played a central role in setting up numerous national and international exhibitions. A major conflict arose between Secession members in 1905 when Moll had received the opportunity to take over the artistic management of Galerie Miethke, founded in 1861 and a leading force from 1896 onwards. The ‘Moll Affair’ led to a group of artists leaving the Secession, henceforth referred to as the ‘Klimt-Gruppe’. Besides Klimt and Moll, the breakaway members included Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann, Wilhelm Bernatzik, Otto Wagner, Elena Luksch-Makovsky and Wilhelm List.
As soon as Carl Moll took charge of Galerie Miethke – already an established name in the art world – the gallery became the Klimt-Gruppe’s most important venue. In addition, from 1905 onwards, the gallery showed solo exhibitions of works by important innovators such as George Minne (1905), Vincent Van Gogh (1906), Paul Gauguin (1907), Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1909), Ferdinand Hodler (1910 and 1913), Edouard Manet and Claude Monet (1910), Pablo Picasso (1914) and André Derain (1914). There were plenty of group exhibitions too which included innovative figures like Georges Seurat, Théo Van Rysselberghe, Félicien Rops and Henri Matisse. Besides Galerie Miethke, people in Vienna could also discover ground-breaking art from abroad at the commercial galleries Kunstsalon Pisko (1895– 1914), Hugo Heller (1905–18), Galerie Arnot (1908–18) as well as at the Hagenbund artists’ association (1900–18).
The catalogue offers obviously details regarding the relation between Klimt, Van Gogh, Rodin, Matisse and others. In an essay, Markus Fellinger explores “Gustav Klimt’s Engagement with International Modern Art”. He also contributes and article regardings Klimt’s early work. Edwin Becker writes about “Art with a Soul”, Marian Bisanz-Prakken explores “Klimt and International Art around 1900”, Renske Suijver writes about Klimt’s “Stylized Landscapes” and Stephanie Auer contributes an essay regarding “Klimt’s Later Works”.
Most importantly, the catalogue (and later the exhibitions) show works by Klimt and his contemporaries side by side, offering new insights. Eight double-page pairings of works at the beginning of the richly illustrated book – just after “Klimt and his Time. An Overview” – are stunning.
This are just a few “appetizers” from a catalogue that makes you want to visit the upcoming exhibitions.
This is not the first cooperation between the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Belvedere in Vienna. Among the previous exhibitions were Vienna – Paris: Van Gogh, Cézanne and Austrian Modernism 1880–1960 (2007) and Vienna – Berlin: The Art of Two Cities (2014) at the Belvedere, and Munch : Van Gogh (2015) at the Van Gogh Museum. Further more, following the exhibitions Wien 1900: Der Blick nach innen (1997) and Egon Schiele (2005; read also our review of Rudolf Leopold’s Schiele book published in 1973), Viennese modernist art is now being showcased for the third time at the Van Gogh Museum.
Edited by Belvedere, Van Gogh Museum: Klimt. Inspired by Van Gogh, Rodin, Matisse. Contributions by Stephanie Auer, Edwin Becker, Marian Bisanz-Prakken, Markus Fellinger, Lisa Smit, Renske Suijver. Hirmer Publishers, September 2022, 240 pages, 175 colour illustrations, 23 × 29.8 cm. Order the English book/exhibition catalogue from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr; order the German edition from Amazon.de.
Other recommended book: Klimt’s Women about the Belvedere exhibition which ended on January 7, 2001. Hardcover, DuMont, Cologne/Köln, 2000, 256 pages. Order the English exhibition catalogue / book from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk; the German edition Klimt und die Frauen from Amazon.de. Here our November 2000 English review.
This book review / exhibition catalogue review is based on Klimt. Inspired by Van Gogh, Rodin, Matisse. For a better reading, quotations and partial quotations in this catalogue review are not put between quotation marks.
Book review / exhibition catalogue review added on October 1, 2022 at 19:12 Austrian time.
