Klimt: Tree of Life

GUSTAVE KLIMT (1862-1918)

The Tree of Life, 1905

Pronounced: Kl-imp-t

Art Style: Modern, Symbolism

Activity: painting 

Materials: materials: construction paper (brown or black), gold metallic paint, white tempera paint, black tempera paint, thick & thin paintbrushes, bowls for the paint

This lesson is based on a lesson found on Deep Space Sparkle, here.

Meet the Artist: Klimt was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1862. His father was an engraver and goldsmith, which had an obvious effect of Klimt's art throughout his career (he loved painting with gold). Klimt's childhood was spent in poverty.

Inspired by the gold of his childhood as well as ancient Egyptian and Byzantine art, Klimt created a lavish style of art that often incorporated personal symbols (he was part of an art movement called Symbolism). Look at slide 5 in the slideshow for details from the Tree of Life - see references to Egyptian art (the Osiris eyes... other symbols look a lot like hieroglyphics). Here is a brief article about Klimt. Interestingly, one of his paintings - Adele Bloch-Bauer 1 - sold in 2006 for $135 million which was the most a painting had EVER sold for up to that point.

Discussion: The slideshow Cheryl Collins put together is here - (please note that it also contains instructions for the kids on executing the project, as well as biographical details for Klimt). Using the discussion questions, show the kids slide 5 (a detail of The Tree of Life) and ask: (1) What do you see? (2) What makes you say that? (3) What more can you find?

You might want to deepen your discussion by talking about where you think he may have gotten some of his inspiration from (Egyptian art?) and identifying some of the symbols they see. Klimt also used repetition of symbols, shapes, and colors to create interesting designs in his art. What shapes and colors do you see? What is the effect of all of those swirls, visually? Is the woman a part of his design, or a subject in the painting? Or both?

Activity: Start by painting the trunk and branches of the tree, with a thick brush, gold. Use fluid Klimt-like motions to create motion in the branches. Add details on the gold, with white paint. (Look at the Klimt painting for inspiration - eyes, symbols, designs, decorations...). Then outline the tree and the details in black. (Some kids chose to paint the entire background black which really makes the tree pop).

Student Work: