And I knew I liked him even before I saw the beard.

"Gustav Klimt matured as an artist when he was about 37; it was then that he became the Klimt the world has now admired for many decades."
-Klimt: One Hundred Drawings


Klimt used to meet his friends every morning at Tivoli Dairy near the palace of Schonbrunn, where, according to eye-witnesses, he consumed mountains of whipped cream. He forbade conversations about art. The photograph shows him on his way to the dairy in 1914, passing an imperial sphinx."
-Klimt, Schiele, Kokoschka: Drawings & Watercolours


"Klimt usually conducted his correspondence on laconic postcards. In 1904 he sent his mother, with whom he lived, the mis-spelt card on the left, from Attersee: "Am well, still have a lot to do - will be home again Friday 5 Sept. Hope all at home well too. Best wishes, Gust."
-Klimt, Schiele, Kokoschka: Drawings & Watercolours

"Klimt hardly wrote anything about himself or his art and very little of what he said or wrote has survived. His fear of having to answer mail led him to periodically burn unopened letters, and his unwillingness to be interviewed or drawn into conversation about his aesthetic credo was legendary. It is therefore, perhaps, appropriate to end this introduction with a rare appraisal in Klimt's own words:

I never did a self-portrait. I am not interested in myself as a subject - rather I am interested in other people, women most of all. I am convinced that as a person I am not particularly noteworthy. There is nothing special to be seen in me. I am a painter who paints day in and day out from morning to night: figure paintings and landscapes, sometimes portraits.

I am not very good at talking or writing, especially if I am expected to discuss myself or my work. Even if I have to write a simple letter I become as apprehensive and afraid as if I were about to get seasick. One should therefore not expect an artistic or literary self-portrait. Which is not really regrettable. Whoever wants to know something about me - the artist, which is the only thing remarkable - should look at my paintings and try to find out through them what I am and what I want."
-Gustav Klimt: Drawings, Serge Sabarsky