Support from patrons like the Lederers allowed Klimt to be as rebellious as he wanted. His Portrait of Serena Lederer (1899) honors her with luminous, floral patterning—blending portraiture with the decorative boldness of the new Secession age. #artbots#klimt
Enjolras wasn't the most innovative painter of nudes.
He wasn't Courbet.
He wasn't Zorn.
But he understood the market.
Wealthy people wanted to possess beauty.
He turned the academic nude into a luxury object—and made a fortune doing it.
Were they simply beautiful paintings?
Or were they women painted by a man, for other men?