3.7.12

Gustav says...

Gustav Klimt at his studio on Josefstaedter Strasse (Vienna, 1912). Picture: Moriz Naehr
I've finally returned from my 8-week Serbian/European holiday. It was amazing and I didn't want to go home!!! On the way back to Perth, we stopped over in Vienna for two days. I managed to visit Gustav Klimt: Up Close and Personal at the Leopold Museum. It was forbidden to take photos but I found this interesting quote. I really like the way Klimt summed himself up.

The Golden Knight — Gustav Klimt (1903)
I can paint and I can draw. I believe this myself, and others say they believe this as well. But I am not sure it is true. Only two things are certain: 1. There is no self-portrait of me. I'm not interested in myself as a subject for a painting but rather in others others, above all in females, and even more in other phenomena. I am convinced that as a person I am not particularly interesting. There is very little to see in me. I am a painter who paints every day from morning until night. Figures and landscapes, less often portraits. 2. I am not fluent in the spoken or written language, particularly if I have to express myself on my work. Even if I have to write a simple letter, I'm scared stiff — as if I were faced with seasickness. So there is no use waiting for an artistic self-portrait of myself. But this is no great loss. Anyone who wants to know anything about me as an artist — and this is the only thing that matters — should look attentively at my pictures and try to discern from them who I am and what I want. 
Gustav Klimt, undated typescript. Wienbibliothek im Rathaus

            ————————————— IN OTHER NEWS —————————————
I currently have NO INTERNET at home!!! So I won't be able to upload that many pictures or do any new posts any time soon. I'll figure something out as soon as possible. Before I go NUTS!!!

1 comment:

  1. I like your Klimt page, and you're right - it is a great quote

    ReplyDelete