Get to Know Emilie Flöge

Emilie Flöge (1874–1952) was undoubtedly the most important woman in Gustav Klimt's life. Their initial love affair developed into a close, lifelong friendship. However, Emilie Flöge was also willing to accept all the idiosyncrasies Klimt's stubborn nature entailed. She had to accept, for example, that Klimt would never marry her and, despite their shared relationship, would also have affairs with models with whom he even had children. Specifically, the master artist was known to have three longer-lasting relations with models, resulting in a total of six children.

Emilie's relationship with Klimt, in contrast, did not bear any children. They did not even live together. Emilie shared a house with her sisters, while Klimt lived in a household that included his mother and his unmarried sisters. The two rarely saw each other during the day, as Klimt constantly worked in his studio where he did not welcome any company.

Consequently, the two mostly spent time together in the evenings. Emilie Flöge was always by Klimt's side, especially on official occasions and his frequent visits to theatrical and concert performances. Over the years, Emilie Flöge was actually dubbed "Frau Klimt" in Viennese society. She would also inherit Klimt's estate after his unexpected death, alongside his sisters.

Klimt got to know Emile Flöge, who was 12 years younger than himself, in October 1891 at the latest when his brother Ernst married Emilie's sister Helene. Although the Klimt brothers came from a humble background, the Flöge family belonged to the wealthiest class in Viennese society. The father Hermann Flöge owned a factory that produced pipes made of meerschaum. The portrait painted by Klimt in the late 1890s of an old man on his deathbed was likely Emilie's father, Hermann Flöge.

When Gustav Klimt's brother Ernst died unexpectedly in December 1892, Gustav became the guardian of Ernst's daughter, Helene Luise. This also strengthened family ties with the Flöge family.

From 1892 Emilie ran a tailor shop with sisters Pauline and Helene. In 1904 the three sisters opened the fashion salon Schwestern Flöge on the lively Mariahilferstraße in Vienna's 6th district. Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser, Klimt's close associates from the Vienna Secession, designed the full interior of the fashion salon. This was completed in 1903 by the Wiener Werkstätte design studio founded by Hoffmann and Moser. The result was an interior with one of the most consistent radical puristic designs of the early years of the Wiener Werkstätte.

This style was characterized by a radical refusal of the corset—tight lacing around the waist—that was then obligatory. The latest international fashion creations also found their way into the salon's collections. To find these, Emilie Flöge regularly visited leading fashion shows in Paris and London.

Klimt and Emilie's relationship became especially intense whenever they went on vacation together. They spent a few weeks each summer in the countryside, most often on the Attersee in Upper Austria. However, they were not alone: they were always in the company of the Flöge family.

In many pictures Emilie also wears the clothes she designed on the Attersee. Some of these photos may have been taken especially for marketing purposes. For instance, in 1906/07 the art magazine "Kunst and Kunsthandwerk" (Arts and Crafts), which was very popular in Germany at the time, published a series of photos in which Emilie presented her latest fashion collection in the garden of the rented Villa Oleander. The photographer in this case may even have been Klimt himself.