Gustav Klimt

The enfant terrible of the Viennese art scene, Klimt was notorious for his portraits of beautiful women. Illustrated with color reproductions, this book profiles the women who figured in the artist's life and on his canvases. The author looks beyond the standard assumption that Klimt was a hardhearted philanderer, pointing instead to his committed and loving relationship with Emilie Flöge that prevailed despite the parade of beautiful women who wandered in and out of the artist's studio. Partsch demonstrates Klimt's role in the evolution of portrait painting, which helped usher in the age of Expressionism.