Gustav Klimt
Portrait of an unknown woman, possibly the wife or daughter of the collector Dr August Heymann

c 1894
Wien Museum, 61061

Gustav Klimt is considered the main representative of Viennese Jugendstil, and a major influence on the work of Egon Schiele and the young Oskar Kokoschka. In 1897 he was a co founder of the Vienna Secession.
Like Hans Makart, he specialised in portraits of women in prestigious poses. One of his earliest (1894) is the head of an unknown woman – possibly the wife or daughter of collector Dr. August Heymann. She looks self-confidently at the viewer, her finely modelled face standing out against the stylised floral pattern of the background, in which characteristics of his later painting are already recognisable.