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Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) is renowned for his two-dimensional, ornamental works, which made him famous worldwide as the most important representative of Viennese Art Nouveau. This volume provides insight into the artistic influences of the great artists of Modernism who helped to firm his remarkable oeuvre. Vienna in 1900 - the Vienna Secession, galleries, private art collectors and art magazines - introduced the art of the European avant-garde into Gustav Klimt's surroundings. The Viennese artist was open to the pictorial language of his contemporaries including Alma-Tadema, Minne, Rodin, Toorop, Hodler, Van Gogh, Monet, Khnopff, Toulouse-Lautrec, Whistler, Matisse and many others, and adapted elements from a variety of styles. The publication presents in large-format illustrations the works of Klimt and artists who were close to him, revealing significant and often surprising parallels.

It is a widely held view that Picasso's creative work received a fresh impetus with each new muse in his life. This volume does not discuss his biography or his stylistic phases, however, but pays tribute to the individual fates of the women who left their mark on the artist's life. Personalities like Françoise Gilot and Dora Maar are among those whose entire life and creative work are acknowledged, not just the years they spent at Picasso's side. The book sketches the life of ten women in the life of the Spanish artist. Picasso was close to his mother throughout her life and chose her maiden name as his artist's name. When he wanted to marry the Russian ballerina Olga Khokhlova, she warned him that he would remain married to painting throughout his life. They separated in 1935; the reason was his young muse Marie-Thér?se Walter, who was also soon deposed by Dora Maar. Following various separations, women like the young artist Françoise Gilot also disappeared from Picasso's canvases, but did not vanish entirely. This book pays tribute to them all. Presented women: Doňa Maria Picasso y Lopez (Picasso's mother), Maria Dolores Ruiz Picasso (Picasso's sister), Gertrude Stein, Fernande Olivier, Eva Gouel (Marcelle Humbert), Olga Khokhlova, Marie-Thérese Walter , Dora Maar, Françoise Gilot, Jaqueline Roque

The artistic gaze into the mirror – Egon Schiele personally and in close-up. Many artists share the desire for involvement with the self and their own appearance. In the oeuvre of Egon Schiele, self-portraits occupy a central role. Over a period of many years Schiele recorded himself in various poses and styles. This publication focuses in detail on this crucial and yet often only marginally mentioned aspect of his art. Egon Schiele’s contorted and eccentric figures are among the world’s iconic images. For many of these works he and his own body served as model. His interest often lay not in his own self, but more generally in the position of the individual in the changing modern world. As in experimental arrangements, Schiele poses in a variety of roles. In doing so he “uses” his face and wears it like a mask. The publication offers a comprehensive representation of this life theme of the artist genius.

Munch’s pictorial worlds – the initial impetus for modernism Edvard Munch’s radical modernity in painting was a challenge for his contemporaries. This applied in particular to the art scene in Berlin around 1900 which the Norwegian Symbolist artist influenced profoundly. In return, he received support there and was able to continue to develop his work. The publication is lavishly illustrated and describes knowledgeably the story of Munch and Berlin. In 1892 the Association of Berlin Artists invited the still-unknown Edvard Munch (1863–1944) to an exhibition. The public was shocked by the colourful, sketch-like pictures. The artist enjoyed the furore and moved to the city on the Spree, where he repeatedly sojourned until 1908. Here he learned the techniques for printed graphics and presented for the first time paintings in several continuous series which would become central to his oeuvre. In Berlin, before long, the concept of the “Magic of the North” (Stefan Zweig) was no longer associated with romantic or naturalistic fjord landscapes, but with Munch’s psychologically concentrated pictorial worlds.