jellyfish wisdom

11. "klimt" your body and mind.

i was trying to think of a clever way to incorporate the mysteriously awe-inspiring gustav klimt in my 'bit-of-wisdom-shared-and-lesson-to-be-learned' title and this is the best thing i could think of, my own version of 'clean your body and mind', haha.i honestly just wanted to find an excuse to share gustav klimt with all of you.

so who is gustav klimt?, you ask. i answer: Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects. Klimt's primary subject was the female body, and his works are marked by a frank eroticism. [thanks Wikipedia]

personally, i think klimt was ahead of his times. his paintings, full of lavish eroticism were the cause of great controversy and scandal in Austria at the turn of the 20th century. by today's standards, klimt would not surprise any of us. in fact, eroticism is an underlying message in today's fashion magazines and marketing campaigns. with each of his masterpieces, he sends this underlying message of glamour, of hidden and passionate romantic love, of human emotions at their summit. i have been wanting to live in one of klimt's paintings for a while now; i find the way he portrays his women absolutely gorgeous in every way.

sometimes i thought i was the only one to find this subtle glamour message in his works. there was this photoshoot-theme to them (or maybe it's just becuase i've read too much vogue and seen too many annie lebovitz shoots...but more on that on another time) and with paintings like this one, i think it's easy to see what i mean:

auf deutsch: Judith mit dem Haupt Holofernes (zerstört)

obviously, i was not the only one to find fashionista glamour and inspiration in klimt. moises gonzalez found inspiration in his essence as well:

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, which was sold to Ronald Lauder for a record US$135 million

vs.

and my personal favorite:

The Kiss

vs.

by typing his name in google, i discovered there was a movie made about his life in 2006. WAS?! WTF HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS?! and it even has john fricking malkovich as gustav klimt. the reviews are in both sides of the spectrum: some say that it is confusing, a bore and just painful, while others claim that it is an artwork by itself, a great artistic depiction of the life on an artist, without getting caught in a biographical recount of his life. i am currently in the process of downloading it, so i will update you all once the d-load has finished and i have finished watching it. i leave you guys with the trailer and with another great art piece of his, "the tree of life".