Klimt Portraits in Gold

Hey Fourth Grade!  I see you are learning about Gustav Klimt and some of his "gold portraits."

Patrons of Klimt were women married to wealthy business men.  Klimt said he showed the wealth of his subjects by painting them as jewels.  For part of his life his paintings contained a lot of gold in them.  Notice the patterns in the paintings.  The artist wanted the create contrast between the background, clothing, and the parts of the people that you can see.  While the people appear realistic, the rest of the painting does not.