Gustav Klimt: The Beethoven Frieze and the Controversy over the Freedom of Art

Focusing on Gustav Klimt’s famous mural, this book reveals the story behind the Beethoven Frieze and the role it played in Vienna’s cultural heyday. Created by Klimt for the XIV Exhibition of the Secession in 1902–also known as the Beethoven Exhibition–the Beethoven Frieze remains one of the most important examples of Vienna Art Nouveau, and one of the highlights of Klimt’s career. Based on Richard Wagner’s interpretation of Beethoven’s ninth symphony, it displays Klimt’s artistic opinions, passions and impressions. As a vehicle through which Klimt struggled to express the spiritual in terms of the visual, its elaborate decoration and frank eroticism reflect the debate between tradition and modernism that was raging in fin de siècle Vienna. In this book, more than 200 images in color and duotone offer close-up details of the frieze’s panels and give an overall perspective of the grandiose work. Stephan Koja discusses the Beethoven exhibition as a collective work of art, while other essays describe the techniques Klimt used to create the frieze and those employed to preserve it, its place in Klimt’s oeuvre, and its importance as a symbol of Vienna’s artistic community.