Later years of Gustav Klimt
Klimt was president and one of the founding members of the Vienna Secession in 1897 and remained so until 1908.
They put out a periodical called Sacred Spring. It was during the years since 1890 that Klimt painted many of his landscapes while on holiday with the Floge family.
In 1894, Gustav Klimt was commissioned to decorate the ceiling of the great hall in the University of Vienna. His three paintings were criticized for being pornographic and weren’t displayed on the ceiling. They were eventually destroyed in World War II.
His golden phase occurred during a time of much critical acclaim. During this time, he used a lot of gold leaf in is paintings as accents. In 1911, he painted Death and Life and received first prize in the world exhibitions in Rome. Klimt died in Vienna in 1918 of a stroke. He left numerous paintings unfinished.