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Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt was a painter from Austria who lived over a hundred years ago. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objects of art. He is one of the most popular and celebrated Art Nouveau Artists.

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Art Nouveau is an international art movement and style based on organic forms. It has floral and plant-inspired designs, and stylized, flowing forms.Art Nouveau is an approach to design which artists appy to everything from architecture, furniture and paintings, making art part of everyday life.

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Klimt was also well known for using gold leaf in his paintings. He spent ten years of his artistic career using gold in all of his paintings. This time was known as his Gold Period.

Some of his most famous paintings come from this ten year time period.

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Klimt was also known for using repetitive and elaborate patterns in his artworks. Here are just a few examples of the patterns that Gustav Klimt used in his work.

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Gustav Klimt’s most famous piece he created during his gold period was titled the “Tree of Life.” The Tree of life is an important symbol used by many cultures. Klimt designed his tree of life in a bold and original manner. The branches twist, twirl, and spiral. With its branches reaching for the sky, the tree of life roots into the earth below creating the connection between heaven and earth.

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Symbolism

Gustav Klimt used a lot of symbolism in his artwork as well as precious metals like gold. Today we are also learning about the Claddagh Heart from Irish Culture. The symbolism of the Claddagh Heart is:

- The heart symbolizes LOVE

- The crown symbolizes LOYALTY

- The hands symbolize FRIENDSHIP

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The Claddagh Ring Legend

The folklore tells the tale of a young man from Claddagh, a fishing village in Galway, Ireland. The young man is sold into slavery, and during his years in captivity, he dreams of Claddagh and his lost love.

Over the years, he wonders whether his love would be waiting for him if he ever made it home. As time passes, he makes a ring out of gold pilfered from his master. This was the first-ever Claddagh Ring. When he finally made it back to Claddagh, his love was waiting for him, and the tradition of the Claddagh ring was born.