Gustav Klimt was an Austrian symbolist painter who was a key figure in the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt's portraits, murals, drawings, and other works of art are well-known. Klimt's primary focus was the female body, and his paintings are characterized by open eroticism. He painted landscapes among his figurative paintings, which included allegories and portraits. Klimt was the most inspired by Japanese art and practices among the Vienna Secession artists. 
He was a prolific painter of architectural decorations in the traditional manner early in his artistic career.