Merging images of the metaphysical and erotic, Klimt is a leading artist of the Austrian Art Nouveau era. In paintings from his Golden Period, Klimt ventures beyond iconographic images to art that exceeds spatial and temporal constraints.In 1901 Hermann Bahr wrote, in his Speech on Klimt: "Just as only a lover can reveal to a man what life means to him and develop its innermost significance, I feel the same about these paintings."
