KLIMT’S SUNFLOWERS
GOLDEN RIVALS OF VAN GOGH?
What a summer, what a summer!
This is magic indeed.
And how I ask you, did it come
Just like that, out of the blue.
Fyodor Tyutchev*
Gustav Klimt, Sunflowers, c. 1906, oil on canvas, Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, Austria
I’m reposting a blog from August, 2015 while I’m away.
One of Vienna’s most celebrated artists, Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) is usually associated with paintings such as the erotic The Kiss or the dazzling “gold” portrait of society beauty Adele Bloch-Bauer. However, he also produced a body of work, including The Sunflowers above, inspired by the lush countryside surrounding Lake Attersee, where he escaped most summers from the heat and congestion of the city.
*Russian poet Fyodor Tyutchev (1803-1873) often expressed his love of nature and the changing seasons through the artistic medium of verse. He is considered a significant figure of the Romantic cultural movement.
