Bogen indeholder en god kombination af Gustav Klimts billeder og en beskrivelse af hans liv og samtidig en gennemgang af de vigtigste temaer i hans malerier. Han bliver i sin samtid en avantgarde provokatør, hvilket bogen beskriver godt i hans kamp med det etablerede kunstmiljø i Wien ved dannelsen af Secessionen og særligt friserne han skulle lave til universitetet - men er samtidig helt bundet fast i denne samtids kvindesyn - kvinden som passivt objekt for manden - hvilket fremgår både af hans symbolistiske malerier som det berømte “Kysset” og hans mange portrætter af kvinder. Jeg synes alt i alt, at bogen er en velskrevet monografi med en passende blanding af detaljer og overblik.
A book about Gustav Klimt and yet there is hardly any Klimt in it at all. I was rather puzzled to notice how the author it's not at all passionate about the subject of her writing but maybe that's because there's not much to be passionate about. And so comes the poorly written, shallow book with (fairly) good illustrations scattered all over it. The few lines in which Klimt describes himself are very relevant: he is not an interesting person, merely the common, humble owner of a boring bourgeois mild neurosis. His work is interesting as long as one does not try to look beyond it as I'm afraid, one will finding nothing of much interest there.
Gustav Klimt entered my radar field slowly. When he was fully on the scene, I realized I loved his art and the story of his life. This book has a healthy dose of both.
Very heavy book but monet's heavier though haha! this one is definitely golden!I looked at his works 1st.Ah that centerfold! really nice and I wasn't expecting it.