Reclining Woman

1900–1907

He returns the advance and keeps the paintings

The state commission refused to accept the three “Faculty Paintings”; Klimt told the minister he would return the 60,000-krone advance, refused to work for the Austrian state again and kept the pictures. The ministry demanded them, but Klimt did not open the door to the removal men — and the affair ended in his victory.

1908

Klimt defends Kokoschka

The public and critics fell on the debutant Oskar Kokoschka so fiercely that the scandal of the “Faculty Paintings” came to mind; Klimt did not turn away from his pupil and defended his place in the show even if it were to be closed. Hevesi granted him talent but denied him taste; Klimt replied that art has nothing to do with taste.

1 June – 16 November 1908

The first Vienna Art Show

For the sixtieth anniversary of Franz Joseph's reign pavilions with 54 rooms were built on a temporary site and over 900 works shown. Room 22, which Peter Altenberg called “the church of modern art named after Gustav Klimt”, held “The Kiss”, “Adele Bloch-Bauer I”, “Danaë” and “The Three Ages of Woman”.

1909

The second Vienna Art Show

The second generation of modernists was represented by Kokoschka and Egon Schiele, and Klimt showed “Judith II” and “Hope II”. The works of Van Gogh, Munch, Gauguin, Vallotton, Bonnard and Matisse gave him the impulse for a new phase, but he never organized exhibitions again.

1910

Klimt at the Venice Biennale

Klimt's exhibition at the 1910 Venice Biennale influenced the artistic scene of Venice; the Italian Liberty artists Galileo Chini and Vittorio Zecchin were among those he influenced.

1911

“Death and Life”: first prize in Rome

At the world exhibition in Rome “Death and Life” won first prize. In 1915 Klimt reworked the painting, changing the gold background to blue.