Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam: Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt's encounter with modern European art set him on a new path, encouraging him to break away from the Viennese painting tradition and give free rein to his own creativity. Around 1900, the Vienna Secession, of which Klimt was co-founder and first president, presented the Austro-Hungarian capital with its first overview of the latest developments in European art. Each exhibition provided a new wave of inspiration, which Klimt enthusiastically embraced. He responded to these creative stimuli very directly, integrating them in his own work and making no attempt to conceal his sources of inspiration. So it was that elements of the art of Van Gogh, Matisse, Rodin, Whistler, Segantini and Monet became just as much a part of Klimt's captivating style as his trademark gold leaf, ornament and eroticism.