Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt was born in Baumgarten, near Vienna, Austria, the second of seven children, 3 boys and 4 girls. His father, Ernst Klimt, was a gold engraver. Klimt lived in poverty for most of his childhood. Klimt was enrolled, at age fourteen, in the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts Kunstgewerbeschule in 1876, where he studied until 1883, and received training as an architectural decorator. In 1877 his brother Ernst, who, like his father, would become an engraver, also enrolled in the school. The two brothers and their friend Franz Matsch began working together and by 1880 the three had received numerous commissions. Klimt began his professional career painting interior murals in large public buildings on the Ringstraße.

In 1888 Klimt received the Golden order of Merit from Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria for his contributions to art. He also became an honorary member of the University of Munich and the University of Vienna. In 1892 both his father and brother Ernst died. It was in the early 1890s that Klimt met Emilie Flöge, who, despite the artist's relationships with other women, was to be his true companion till the end of Klimt's life.