Gustav Klimt`s art is thoroughly fin de siecle. It expresses the apocalyptic atmosphere of Vienna`s upper middle-class society devoted to the cultivation of aesthetic awareness and the cult of pleasure. The ecstatic joy which Klimt and his contemporariesfound - or hoped to find - in beauty was constantly overshadowed by death. And death therefore plays an important role in Klimt`s art. Klimt`s fame, however, rest on his reputation as one of the greatest erotic painters and graphic artists of his...