Gustav Klimt lived during a golden epoch of Viennese art. Between his birth in 1862 and death in 1918, he immersed himself in the European avant garde, producing all sorts of paintings, murals, sketches, and other works.
Klimt was born in Baumgarten, near Vienna, the historic capital of the Austrian Empire. He never left his homeland, though he took influence from cultures across the world and found international acclaim. So it's no surprise that today his art can be found all over the world…
The Kiss, probably the most popular work by Gustav Klimt, was first exhibited in 1908 at the Kunstschau art exhibition on the site of today’s Konzerthaus. It was immediately bought by the state, and exhibited as an icon of modern, European art.
The Belvedere was originally built in the early 1700s as a Vienna residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy. In 1903, the first public modern art gallery in Austria was housed in a wing of the palace. To this day, this gallery remains one of the greatest collections in Austria.
Also in Vienna, you can find an array of designs for friezes, installed in the dining room of Stoclet Palace in Brussels. Klimt drew up a total of 9 full size designs, also known as cartoons, which were realised in mosaic by fellow artist Leopold Forstner.
This section, known as the Rosebush, incorporates designs and symbols typical of Jugendstil and the artists of the Vienna Secession. Flowers, butterflies, and an eye of Horus, taken from ancient Egyptian art, lend the frieze an enigmatic, mysterious quality.
These cartoons are held at the Museum of Applied Arts. Founded in 1863 to provide artists, craftsmen, and industrialists with an education in modern styles and reference points; ranging from Baroque and Rococo to Japonisme and Art Nouveau.
This esoteric painting, titled The Virgin, depicts seven women, representing different stages of life, intertwined amongst a pile of richly decorated floral fabrics, which hint to purity and beginnings, as well as blossoming womanhood and burgeoning sexuality.
Their bodies, wrapped in a circle, describe the cycle of life. As your eyes follow the circle of bodies, you see warm pink skin and firm flesh of young girls fade to a faceless, skeletal, cold yellow body.
Throughout Klimt's life, the country known today as Czechia was one of the many regions of the Austrian Empire. Klimt's father was from this region, so Klimt is regarded as a sort of compatriot by many Czechs today.
Besides allegories and fantasies, Klimt turns his hand to portraiture. This painting of Mäda Primavesi was made when she was 9 years old. Klimt shows her with a remarkable degree of confidence for such a young girl, yet he sets her amongst a pastel, spring-like landscape.
The picture testifies to the sophisticated taste of her parents, banker and industrialist Otto Primavesi and his wife Eugenia, who were ardent supporters of progressive Viennese art and design.
The portrait of Mäda Primavesi is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The Met is fortunate to also hold a number of sketched nudes, as well as a full length portrait of the Viennese socialite, and close friend, Serena Pulitzer Lederer.
Also in New York, this stunning portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. Klimt is known for his use of precious metals in his art, and of all his works this has to be the most amazing. Almost the entire canvas is layered with gold leaf, reflecting the brilliance of his subject.
Adele's flushed face, full lips, and fine-veined porcelain flesh are realistic depictions embedded in gold ornament. This high degree of decoration evokes ancient Byzantine mosaics as well as Russian icons, placing her on a par with empresses and saints.
Established in 2001, the Neue Galerie New York is dedicated to German and Austrian art of the early 20th Century. The collection ranges from Oskar Kokoschka and Egon Schiele to Otto Dix and George Grosz.
Klimt, as did so many other artists of his era, drew much inspiration from the art of Japan. It's only fitting that some of his best works are now in Japanese collections. The golden knight of this painting, Life is a Struggle, refers to Dürer's Knight, Death and the Devil.
Regarded as one of Klimt’s most important works, Life is a Struggle was once owned by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein's father, and was the first oil painting by Klimt to enter the collection of a public art museum in Japan.
At the Aichi Prefectorial Museum of Art, you will find a collection dedicated to understanding the development of modern art, from the 1900s onwards. Besides Klimt, you can find works from the collections of Fujii Tatsukichi and Kimura Teizo.
Nighttime is always happening somewhere in the world and most people use that time to sleep. Curl up under a blanket and scroll on to discover facts about slumber.
Sleep is a necessity for all mammals and almost every other animal. In fact, sleep has even been observed in some insects!
This 17th century Cornelis de Visscher etching shows a cat asleep while a brave mouse sneaks behind it.
Do you dream when you doze? Most people dream a few hours a night, but may not remember. People throughout history have interpreted dreams differently, depending on the time and place.
Before the industrial revolution, research suggests that many people slept in two periods during the night--getting up for a short period before going back to bed. Many languages even have terms meaning "first sleep" and "second sleep."
The introduction of artificial light and longer hours may have led to the decline of this practice. Rembrandt sketched this drawing of his slumbering wife in 1654.
In many cultures, it is still customary to take a midday nap. In 1911, Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla painted his family taking a siesta in the grass. Do you nap during the day?
Some Christians observe the Dormition of the Virgin, as depicted in this 1490 painting, celebrating Mary's spiritual ascension to Heaven. Shakespeare wrote, "For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come."
Sleep is not always possible, as shown by actor Steve McQueen's pet malamute. When people don't get adequate sleep, they take on what is known as sleep debt, which causes fatigue and takes a toll on cognition.
Even people in outer space have to sleep! This snapshot is of American astronaut Dr. Sally Ride using a sleep restraint to prevent floating away. Can you imagine drifting off while weightless?
Feeling sleepy yet? If you're still awake, you can watch a video from Tchaikovsky's longest ballet, The Sleeping Beauty. Sweet dreams.
Association Football (known as 'football' or 'soccer') is the world's most popular sport, watched and played by countless millions around the globe. But how well do you know its history? Scroll on to put your soccer knowledge to the test.
Time for kick-off. In what year was the sport of Association Football officially invented?
Forms of soccer were played long, long before it was codified as a sport, but the first official rules were written at the Freemasons’ Tavern in Blackheath, England, 1863. Some of these rules still exist but many have been heavily modified or removed over the years.
Spot quiz: in what year were penalty kicks first added to the rules of the game?
A penalty kick is when an attacking side is awarded a free shot at goal from a marked distance (these days 12 yards) if a foul is committed by the defending team in the penalty area. They were originally called ‘kicks of death’. It’s shame that name didn’t catch on!
Soccer is now the world's most popular sport, but when and where was the first World Cup tournament held?
These days the World Cup is one of the world’s great sporting occasions. Every national team enters and plays through a system of qualifying rounds to reach the final tournament, held every four years in a different host nation. Uruguay hosted, and won, the first.
The referee's whistle blows! When was the dreaded Red Card first introduced to the game?
Players can be sent from the field for committing a variety of offences, such as dangerous play, preventing a goal-scoring opportunity, or accumulating two yellow cards for less serious offences. The ref will show a Red Card to the offending player.
These days international football has a busy calendar with the World Cup and individual continental tournaments, but the idea didn't take off immediately. Can you name the year the first ever international football match was played and by which two nations?
These two still contest a very heated rivalry!
If you would like to discover more about Association Football, or soccer as it is commonly known, then you can click here.