Wanderlust Collective

INSIDE THE MIND OF

Gustav Klimt

OCT 5/The Wanderlust Collective/

Art, Artist Spotlight, Drawing, Inspiration

“Whoever wants to know something about me, they should look attentively at my pictures and there seek to recognize what I am and what I want.”

Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt

One artist that intrigues me is Gustav Klimt. He took art to a whole other level, and created an art form that inspired, excites, and motivates to just dig deeper.

Gustav Klimt was an Austrian symbolist painter in the late 1800s. He belonged to the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt was known for his paintings, sketches, murals and other types of art.

We always rave about his beautiful ornate gold paintings, but what about his drawings? He had a way of pulling us right into his work, and getting us lost in his imagination. When he died he left behind over 4000 sketches. Now that’s dedication to drawing!

His sketches helped him to move beyond good painting and into his Golden Phase which is one of his most inventive artistic styles ever. The Golden Phase was the period where he used gold leaf in his paintings.

Drawings are the foundation of any artist's work. It’s the image in our minds that becomes the vision and then reality on paper. Everything that you envision should first start on paper. Gustav chose mediums for sketching like black chalk, pencil and colored pencils in that order. Each of these gave him different results depending on what his vision was for each piece of art. When it comes to paper he was pretty consistent with the types he used for drawing. He used Japanese imports which were stiffer and lighter. This paper made him feel more comfortable using the pencil, which he would use more often than chalk.

Klimt was obsessed with drawing and it was the fastest and easiest form of creativity. He practiced daily drawings of clothes and nude models throughout his life. He produced thousands of studies of men, women, and children of all ages. He explored gestures, figures and poses. He looked for the essence of specific emotions and life situations. Gustav’s figures are sensuous and look like they are in a dream state.

“Art is a line around your thoughts.”

Gustav Klimt

When you add the practice of daily drawing to your repertoire

amazing things happen.

Remember,

first the idea,

then the vision,

then using drawing to bring your vision to life.

What do you envision in your art?