Klimt & Rodin: An Artist Encounter Breaking the Reigning Aesthetic Boundaries of the Time

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco are presenting Klimt & Rodin: An Artistic Encounter at the Legion of Honor until January 28, 2018 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the deaths of Auguste Rodin in November 1917 and Gustav Klimt in February 1918. The exhibition will celebrate the legacies of these two pioneers, who each broke the reigning aesthetic boundaries of the time to find new vocabularies and create powerful agendas for modern painting and sculpture. Arranged in dialogue with the Legion of Honor’s acclaimed collection of Rodin works, Klimt and Rodin will provide an incredibly rare opportunity for American audiences to see a range of signature works by the Austrian master Klimt, many of which will travel to the U.S. for the first time.

“This will be an exceptional and breathtaking opportunity to experience the art of Gustav Klimt in San Francisco,” says Max Hollein, Director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. “And as a native Viennese, I am especially proud that we are able to present the beloved works by Klimt at the Legion of Honor. With our important Rodin collection, we are perfectly situated to engage Klimt’s masterpieces in dialogue with Rodin’s oeuvre.”

This first major Klimt exhibition on the West Coast surveys the span of the artist’s practice. Among the 33 works by Klimt exhibited are iconic paintings, such as Nuda Veritas (1899), Klimt”s response to the conservative views of the art establishment, on loan from the Österreichisches Theatermuseum; Upper Austrian Farmhouse (1911), in his landscape style, loaned by the Belvedere in Vienna;  Portrait of Ria Munk III (1917) from the Lewis Collection; and The Virgin (1913), loaned from the National Gallery in Prague, in which Klimt’s use of color is on full display.

Gustave Klimt, Portrait of Sonja Knips, 1898; oil on canvas. Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, Austria

“This exhibition … provides an insight into leading art developments in Europe at the turn of the century through the lens of two of its most important artists,” adds curator Tobias G. Natter. “It marks the very first time a survey of Klimt’s works with some of his most outstanding masterpieces will be exhibited in California.”