Klimt. Up close and personal. Paintings-Letters-Insights

In celebration of Gustav Klimt’s 150th birthday, the Leopold Museum is dedicating an unusual exhibition to this most ­celebrated Austrian artist. The presentation’s main focus is on chief works from the Leopold Museum’s own rich Klimt collection, supplemented by singular loans from important Austrian and international collections. Klimt’s works are juxtaposed with remarks made by the artist, who is thus commenting on his own paintings.
A common thread through the presentation is provided by a row of display cabinets winding their way around the exhibition, which contain the approximately 400 written documents sent by Klimt to his life’s companion Emilie Flöge. Complemented by numerous contemporary portrait photographs, the presentation­ succeeds in painting a vivid picture of this ­multifaceted artist’s existence around 1900 between art­scandals and recreations on Lake Attersee.
Klimt’s special retreat was his studio, which, together with the artist’s private collection that was kept there, has been specially reconstructed for the exhibition.