Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) was a prominent Austrian Symbolist painter and a founding
member of the Vienna Secession movement. His celebrated "Golden Phase," featuring
masterpieces like The Kiss, utilized actual gold leaf to create dazzling, highly decorative, and
often provocative works. While his art frequently courted public controversy, Klimt lived a
rather private personal life. Though he never married, he had numerous romantic affairs and
fathered at least fourteen children before his death in 1918.