WEBVTT

1
00:00:04.215 --> 00:00:06.120
[somber music]

2
00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:08.513
Gustav Klimt, Emilie Flöge.

3
00:00:10.030 --> 00:00:11.583
He was the symbolist painter.

4
00:00:12.680 --> 00:00:15.703
An alchemist who turned the colors of his palette into gold,

5
00:00:16.580 --> 00:00:21.280
reinterpreted motifs, and eroticized his models.

6
00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:23.140
[somber music]

7
00:00:23.140 --> 00:00:25.460
She was one of the greatest fashion designers

8
00:00:25.460 --> 00:00:26.763
of the 20th century.

9
00:00:28.040 --> 00:00:29.550
An artist who would become,

10
00:00:29.550 --> 00:00:31.430
in the brushstrokes of the painter,

11
00:00:31.430 --> 00:00:33.333
an icon brimming with colors.

12
00:00:35.960 --> 00:00:38.950
In Vienna, the two artists would break with convention

13
00:00:39.900 --> 00:00:42.593
and forge a union stronger than that of marriage,

14
00:00:43.770 --> 00:00:47.473
an unprecedented formula for love between two soul mates.

15
00:00:49.074 --> 00:00:51.657 line:15%
[upbeat music]

16
00:01:20.360 --> 00:01:22.023
Vienna, 1908.

17
00:01:25.440 --> 00:01:26.550
For several months,

18
00:01:26.550 --> 00:01:29.383
Gustav Klimt had been painting alone in his studio.

19
00:01:33.820 --> 00:01:38.789
Locked away, with only himself to look at, he was feverish.

20
00:01:38.789 --> 00:01:41.372
[somber music]

21
00:01:49.724 --> 00:01:52.200
He was painting the portrait of a couple,

22
00:01:52.200 --> 00:01:55.910
a man and a woman intertwined in an eternal embrace,

23
00:01:55.910 --> 00:01:57.901
enveloped in a bridal veil.

24
00:01:57.901 --> 00:02:01.070
[somber music]

25
00:02:01.070 --> 00:02:04.070
Gustav Klimt\'s great masterpiece is a kiss,

26
00:02:04.070 --> 00:02:05.363
an erotic fusion.

27
00:02:06.670 --> 00:02:10.073
This painting harbors the painter\'s most intimate fantasies.

28
00:02:15.407 --> 00:02:17.530
\"If you want to know about me,

29
00:02:17.530 --> 00:02:20.290
then carefully examine my paintings

30
00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:25.807
and try to discover who I am and what I wish for.\"

31
00:02:34.150 --> 00:02:36.226
Vienna, 20 years earlier.

32
00:02:36.226 --> 00:02:39.550
[crowd clapping]

33
00:02:39.550 --> 00:02:41.130
It was the big day!

34
00:02:41.130 --> 00:02:44.640
Emperor Franz Joseph I, awarded the painter and decorator

35
00:02:44.640 --> 00:02:47.664
Gustav Klimt, the Golden Order of Merit.

36
00:02:47.664 --> 00:02:50.414
[dramatic music]

37
00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:54.663
At a tender 26 years old,

38
00:02:54.663 --> 00:02:57.463
Klimt\'s artistic work was already rewarded.

39
00:03:00.920 --> 00:03:03.080
The painter ran a decoration studio,

40
00:03:03.080 --> 00:03:04.850
the \"Company of Artists\".

41
00:03:04.850 --> 00:03:08.100
Working alongside him, his younger brother Ernst

42
00:03:08.100 --> 00:03:10.183
and their friend, Franz Match.

43
00:03:14.670 --> 00:03:17.010
Together, the three painters produced murals

44
00:03:17.010 --> 00:03:20.509
for public buildings, like the Burgtheater in Vienna.

45
00:03:20.509 --> 00:03:23.259
[dramatic music]

46
00:03:28.780 --> 00:03:31.320
Their neoclassical style fitted perfectly

47
00:03:31.320 --> 00:03:32.883
with the Viennese fashion.

48
00:03:36.760 --> 00:03:39.880
The Klimt brothers were proudly treading the artistic path

49
00:03:39.880 --> 00:03:43.080
their gold-engraver father had opened up for them.

50
00:03:43.080 --> 00:03:46.440
And thanks to them, Vienna shone brightly!

51
00:03:46.440 --> 00:03:49.107
[clock ringing]

52
00:03:50.160 --> 00:03:52.660
[man snoring]

53
00:03:53.789 --> 00:03:56.539
[dramatic music]

54
00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:02.210
At 29 years old, Klimt was still living with his mother.

55
00:04:02.210 --> 00:04:04.793
A comfortable situation which suited him perfectly.

56
00:04:08.220 --> 00:04:11.600
But in his adjoining studio, far from prying eyes,

57
00:04:11.600 --> 00:04:15.103
the painter found room for freedom and libertinism.

58
00:04:18.154 --> 00:04:20.737
[upbeat music]

59
00:04:31.930 --> 00:04:34.500
Wearing his flowing Eastern kaftan,

60
00:04:34.500 --> 00:04:38.211
he paraded among his models like a pasha in his harem.

61
00:04:38.211 --> 00:04:40.794
[upbeat music]

62
00:04:44.460 --> 00:04:48.549
He painted, sketched and feasted on young women, insatiably.

63
00:04:48.549 --> 00:04:51.132
[upbeat music]

64
00:04:54.430 --> 00:04:57.763
His women were brunettes or preferably redheads.

65
00:05:03.250 --> 00:05:06.683
They came and went, delicate and languid.

66
00:05:08.140 --> 00:05:11.450
But while the inspired painter was committed to his models,

67
00:05:11.450 --> 00:05:15.331
Klimt the man refused to settle for just one of them.

68
00:05:15.331 --> 00:05:17.748
[bell rings]

69
00:05:22.250 --> 00:05:24.770
1891, a wedding day!

70
00:05:24.770 --> 00:05:28.563
Gustav Klimt\'s brother, Ernst, married Helene Flöge.

71
00:05:29.610 --> 00:05:32.473
The bride was beautiful, her younger sister, too.

72
00:05:34.570 --> 00:05:38.563
Her name, Emilie Flöge, 17 years old.

73
00:05:41.150 --> 00:05:46.020
She had fine features, a shock of red hair, and green eyes.

74
00:05:46.020 --> 00:05:48.120
All the assets to win the painter\'s heart.

75
00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:50.703
[upbeat music]

76
00:05:56.130 --> 00:05:59.060
Gustav Klimt, generally described as solitary,

77
00:05:59.060 --> 00:06:01.930
shy and reserved, surprised even himself

78
00:06:01.930 --> 00:06:03.510
when he began to dream of romance

79
00:06:03.510 --> 00:06:05.393
with the beautiful young woman.

80
00:06:14.184 --> 00:06:15.840
[woman laughs]

81
00:06:15.840 --> 00:06:19.890
Emilie Flöge blossomed in a well-to-do Viennese family.

82
00:06:19.890 --> 00:06:22.890
The young independent woman had a fondness for the arts,

83
00:06:22.890 --> 00:06:26.370
the piano, literature and, in particular, fashion.

84
00:06:26.370 --> 00:06:28.953
[gentle music]

85
00:06:34.210 --> 00:06:37.130
17 years separated Emilie from the painter,

86
00:06:37.130 --> 00:06:40.443
but to spend time with her, Gustav was ready for anything.

87
00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:45.550
He even decided to take French lessons with her

88
00:06:45.550 --> 00:06:47.673
and also painted her first portrait.

89
00:06:51.539 --> 00:06:54.122
[wall crashes]

90
00:06:56.338 --> 00:06:58.921
[somber music]

91
00:07:02.918 --> 00:07:05.843
1892 was a terrible year for Klimt.

92
00:07:08.289 --> 00:07:10.080
A few months apart,

93
00:07:10.080 --> 00:07:12.750
the painter suddenly lost first his father,

94
00:07:12.750 --> 00:07:13.600
then his brother.

95
00:07:18.780 --> 00:07:20.223
He sunk into depression.

96
00:07:24.897 --> 00:07:27.080
\"I\'m a sad man.

97
00:07:27.080 --> 00:07:30.580
I don\'t show it, and people believe the opposite.

98
00:07:30.580 --> 00:07:34.438
But grief and sadness are my constant companions.

99
00:07:34.438 --> 00:07:37.188
[rats squealing]

100
00:07:44.200 --> 00:07:47.050
Gustav Klimt left the Company of Artists

101
00:07:47.050 --> 00:07:48.309
and went solo.

102
00:07:48.309 --> 00:07:50.892
[somber music]

103
00:07:55.940 --> 00:08:00.200
In 1894, Klimt reached a peak in terms of painting technique

104
00:08:00.200 --> 00:08:03.560
with Portrait of Marie Breuning, a classical portrait,

105
00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:07.109
astonishingly realistic, and very close to photography.

106
00:08:07.109 --> 00:08:09.692
[somber music]

107
00:08:12.500 --> 00:08:14.150
The University of Vienna commissioned

108
00:08:14.150 --> 00:08:16.040
a series of paintings from him.

109
00:08:16.040 --> 00:08:19.420
The imposed subjects were Philosophy, Medicine

110
00:08:19.420 --> 00:08:20.703
and Jurisprudence.

111
00:08:23.940 --> 00:08:27.160
The university deans expected Klimt to produce

112
00:08:27.160 --> 00:08:30.160
traditional allegories of these subjects.

113
00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:32.310
But the artist was desperate to free himself

114
00:08:32.310 --> 00:08:34.300
from academic painting.

115
00:08:34.300 --> 00:08:36.000
He had reached the end of a cycle.

116
00:08:39.349 --> 00:08:41.932
[upbeat music]

117
00:08:45.480 --> 00:08:47.830
Emilie was now 21.

118
00:08:47.830 --> 00:08:50.350
Elegant and at the avant-garde of fashion,

119
00:08:50.350 --> 00:08:52.913
the young woman also stood out for her temperament.

120
00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:57.630
She had plenty of suitors, but she was strong-willed.

121
00:08:57.630 --> 00:09:00.010
And she downright refused the fate reserved

122
00:09:00.010 --> 00:09:02.693
for most women from childhood.

123
00:09:02.693 --> 00:09:05.276
[upbeat music]

124
00:09:12.130 --> 00:09:14.740
Emilie had made up her mind to dedicate her energy

125
00:09:14.740 --> 00:09:17.803
to her ambitions and not to looking after a man.

126
00:09:19.052 --> 00:09:21.552
[man sneezes]

127
00:09:22.570 --> 00:09:24.970
Meanwhile, Klimt was still finding it hard

128
00:09:24.970 --> 00:09:26.433
to get over his losses.

129
00:09:29.488 --> 00:09:31.585
[man crashes]

130
00:09:31.585 --> 00:09:33.940
[whistle blows]

131
00:09:33.940 --> 00:09:37.150
The only person able to bring him much-needed comfort,

132
00:09:37.150 --> 00:09:39.853
balance and strength was Emilie Flöge.

133
00:09:45.660 --> 00:09:50.411
To him, she embodied mystery, independence and freedom.

134
00:09:50.411 --> 00:09:52.994
[somber music]

135
00:10:00.170 --> 00:10:04.540
In 1895, while he was working on his painting Love,

136
00:10:04.540 --> 00:10:05.533
he wrote to her.

137
00:10:06.557 --> 00:10:10.340
\"It\'s hard not to love, it\'s hard to love.

138
00:10:10.340 --> 00:10:13.540
But crueler than that, is loving in vain.\"

139
00:10:13.540 --> 00:10:16.123
[somber music]

140
00:10:17.210 --> 00:10:19.170
Emilie haunted his mind,

141
00:10:19.170 --> 00:10:21.683
became his object of desire, an ideal.

142
00:10:23.797 --> 00:10:26.430
\"You, my gazelle, my beauty,

143
00:10:26.430 --> 00:10:29.400
you, sweeter than rain from the heavens,

144
00:10:29.400 --> 00:10:32.870
be faithful to me, my beautiful beloved friend.

145
00:10:32.870 --> 00:10:35.421
Be faithful to me, my treasure, my life.\"

146
00:10:35.421 --> 00:10:38.004
[somber music]

147
00:10:41.955 --> 00:10:44.455
[alarm rings]

148
00:10:48.750 --> 00:10:50.910
In the summer of 1897,

149
00:10:50.910 --> 00:10:53.320
Emilie invited Gustav to her family home

150
00:10:53.320 --> 00:10:55.183
in Fieberbrunn in the Tyrol.

151
00:10:58.410 --> 00:11:00.790
There, the painter discovered a young woman

152
00:11:00.790 --> 00:11:02.899
with extraordinary energy.

153
00:11:02.899 --> 00:11:05.566
[upbeat music]

154
00:11:08.800 --> 00:11:11.680
Ahead of her time, Emilie learned to drive,

155
00:11:11.680 --> 00:11:13.600
played all kinds of sports,

156
00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:16.150
and tried out one thing after another.

157
00:11:16.150 --> 00:11:17.863
Nothing seemed to get in her way.

158
00:11:23.210 --> 00:11:26.943
So Gustav leaped into her slipstream as best he could!

159
00:11:28.951 --> 00:11:31.368
[man boxing]

160
00:11:32.920 --> 00:11:35.922
He would need a vigorous body to impress his young beauty!

161
00:11:35.922 --> 00:11:38.589
[upbeat music]

162
00:11:47.310 --> 00:11:49.170
In the Tyrolean mountains,

163
00:11:49.170 --> 00:11:52.093
Emilie also passed on her love of nature to the painter.

164
00:11:54.069 --> 00:11:56.736
[somber music]

165
00:11:59.550 --> 00:12:02.040
This new environment became the silent witness

166
00:12:02.040 --> 00:12:03.699
of their idyll.

167
00:12:03.699 --> 00:12:06.449
[bells tingling]

168
00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:12.293
An inspired Klimt produced his first landscapes,

169
00:12:19.050 --> 00:12:21.723
all compositions with no human presence.

170
00:12:22.740 --> 00:12:26.270
In mainly square formats, and in original frames,

171
00:12:26.270 --> 00:12:28.520
the painter covered the entire canvas

172
00:12:28.520 --> 00:12:30.533
with stylized floral motifs.

173
00:12:34.150 --> 00:12:36.962
Decorative motifs he would use for the rest of his career.

174
00:12:36.962 --> 00:12:40.160
[bells chiming]

175
00:12:40.160 --> 00:12:42.760
These works testify to his growing desire

176
00:12:42.760 --> 00:12:45.381
to shift more towards the abstract.

177
00:12:45.381 --> 00:12:50.381
[upbeat music]
[water splashing]

178
00:12:51.760 --> 00:12:55.650
1897, as the century drew to a close,

179
00:12:55.650 --> 00:12:59.282
a new wind swept through art across all Europe.

180
00:12:59.282 --> 00:13:01.699
[man snores]

181
00:13:03.660 --> 00:13:06.130
But the capital of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire

182
00:13:06.130 --> 00:13:08.223
stagnated in its conservatism.

183
00:13:10.600 --> 00:13:13.810
So on March 27th of that year,

184
00:13:13.810 --> 00:13:17.500
Gustav Klimt and 40 or so avant-garde artists

185
00:13:17.500 --> 00:13:20.400
founded the Union of Austrian Artists,

186
00:13:20.400 --> 00:13:22.548
or the Vienna Secession.

187
00:13:22.548 --> 00:13:25.290
[upbeat music]

188
00:13:25.290 --> 00:13:29.717
Its motto, \"To every age its art, and to art its freedom.\"

189
00:13:31.030 --> 00:13:33.380
Their desire, to openly break

190
00:13:33.380 --> 00:13:36.141
with the dictatorship of bourgeois taste!

191
00:13:36.141 --> 00:13:39.330
[upbeat music]

192
00:13:39.330 --> 00:13:42.710
Klimt would sign the Secession\'s esthetic manifesto

193
00:13:42.710 --> 00:13:45.403
Nuda Veritas, The Naked Truth.

194
00:13:47.520 --> 00:13:51.407
From the German poet Schiller, he borrowed this quotation,

195
00:13:51.407 --> 00:13:54.760
\"If you cannot please everyone with your deeds and your art,

196
00:13:54.760 --> 00:13:56.400
please only a few.

197
00:13:56.400 --> 00:13:58.247
To please many is bad.\"

198
00:13:59.680 --> 00:14:02.903
This marked the Secession\'s desire to advocate true art.

199
00:14:11.260 --> 00:14:13.530
Emilie Flöge was enthusiastic,

200
00:14:13.530 --> 00:14:16.740
the movement also called for a renewal of artistic forms,

201
00:14:16.740 --> 00:14:18.523
including everyday spheres.

202
00:14:19.810 --> 00:14:22.210
So her field of fashion could also be freed

203
00:14:22.210 --> 00:14:23.663
from established models.

204
00:14:26.160 --> 00:14:27.570
It was time for her to put

205
00:14:27.570 --> 00:14:29.793
her feminine intuition into practice.

206
00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:33.783
[upbeat music]

207
00:14:39.280 --> 00:14:42.690
As for Gustav Klimt, he was the darling of Vienna women.

208
00:14:42.690 --> 00:14:44.790
The wives of the great industrialists

209
00:14:44.790 --> 00:14:46.330
called on him more and more,

210
00:14:46.330 --> 00:14:48.963
all desperate to feature on one of his canvases.

211
00:14:52.468 --> 00:14:55.135
[somber music]

212
00:14:59.490 --> 00:15:03.090
Portrait of Sonja Knips began the series of portraits

213
00:15:03.090 --> 00:15:05.113
of wives of wealthy patrons.

214
00:15:09.270 --> 00:15:11.140
In these classical paintings,

215
00:15:11.140 --> 00:15:13.340
with hints of neo-impressionism,

216
00:15:13.340 --> 00:15:16.693
the painter tried to unlock the mysteries of femininity.

217
00:15:19.277 --> 00:15:21.350
\"I have painted no self-portraits.

218
00:15:21.350 --> 00:15:25.260
Me, as the subject of a painting is of no interest.

219
00:15:25.260 --> 00:15:29.550
It\'s rather other people, and notably women.\"

220
00:15:29.550 --> 00:15:34.550
[upbeat music]
[water rippling]

221
00:15:35.571 --> 00:15:37.290
[water splashes]

222
00:15:37.290 --> 00:15:39.170
But Gustav would be caught up

223
00:15:39.170 --> 00:15:41.987
by his excessive consumption of women!

224
00:15:41.987 --> 00:15:44.280
\"I know only one thing for certain,

225
00:15:44.280 --> 00:15:45.653
I am a poor idiot.

226
00:15:47.650 --> 00:15:51.733
The news fell, Gustav would become a father!

227
00:15:52.590 --> 00:15:55.201
And not of just one child, but two!

228
00:15:55.201 --> 00:15:57.868
[babies crying]

229
00:16:01.530 --> 00:16:04.190
A few months apart, two of his conquests

230
00:16:04.190 --> 00:16:08.341
gave birth to a son, which they both named Gustav.

231
00:16:08.341 --> 00:16:11.008
[upbeat music]

232
00:16:13.947 --> 00:16:15.120
\"For seven years,

233
00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:17.520
I have been tortured by fate,

234
00:16:17.520 --> 00:16:20.773
disintegrated into a chaos of contradictions.

235
00:16:22.130 --> 00:16:25.530
I was beginning to feel a glimpse of hope in my heart,

236
00:16:25.530 --> 00:16:30.041
and now suddenly, I have fallen further than ever before.\"

237
00:16:30.041 --> 00:16:32.958
[enchanting music]

238
00:16:40.330 --> 00:16:43.440
When Emilie learned the news or double news,

239
00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:44.553
she remembered.

240
00:16:46.767 --> 00:16:47.810
\"Be faithful to me,

241
00:16:47.810 --> 00:16:49.770
my beautiful beloved friend.

242
00:16:49.770 --> 00:16:52.830
Be faithful to me, my treasure, my life.\"

243
00:16:52.830 --> 00:16:55.413
[somber music]

244
00:16:56.750 --> 00:16:59.000
She was badly hurt.

245
00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:03.240
For her, nothing would ever be possible between them again!

246
00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:05.503
So she focused on her other desires.

247
00:17:09.352 --> 00:17:12.269
[enchanting music]

248
00:17:13.930 --> 00:17:17.210
In 1899, Emilie Flöge won a prestigious

249
00:17:17.210 --> 00:17:19.010
fashion design competition

250
00:17:19.010 --> 00:17:20.702
which would kick-start her career.

251
00:17:20.702 --> 00:17:23.535
[crowd cheering]

252
00:17:31.940 --> 00:17:34.083
But Klimt\'s mood remained dark.

253
00:17:36.360 --> 00:17:38.840
The Academy turned down the preparatory work

254
00:17:38.840 --> 00:17:41.580
that it had commissioned a few years earlier.

255
00:17:41.580 --> 00:17:44.270
The Viennese art critics were scathing.

256
00:17:44.270 --> 00:17:47.284
In his work, they saw the proof of his decadence.

257
00:17:47.284 --> 00:17:50.117
[dramatic music]

258
00:17:54.810 --> 00:17:56.320
But a few months later,

259
00:17:56.320 --> 00:17:58.730
the Secession presented the painter\'s works

260
00:17:58.730 --> 00:18:01.270
at the World\'s Fair in Paris.

261
00:18:01.270 --> 00:18:04.160
Among which were Portrait of Sonja Knips

262
00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:06.503
and more importantly Pallas Athene.

263
00:18:13.040 --> 00:18:16.850
Below the face of a strong and sensual Greek warrioress,

264
00:18:16.850 --> 00:18:20.023
Klimt ironically painted a gorgon sticking its tongue out.

265
00:18:23.924 --> 00:18:26.610
[crowd clapping]

266
00:18:26.610 --> 00:18:30.450
Gustav Klimt received a Grand Prize for Austria.

267
00:18:30.450 --> 00:18:33.363
For the painter, it was a victory, his revenge.

268
00:18:35.637 --> 00:18:39.312
\"Taste is good for wine lovers and cooks.

269
00:18:39.312 --> 00:18:41.587
Art has nothing to do with taste.\"

270
00:18:45.142 --> 00:18:47.553
[birds chirping]

271
00:18:47.553 --> 00:18:50.136
[somber music]

272
00:19:00.324 --> 00:19:02.330
Like every summer, Gustav Klimt

273
00:19:02.330 --> 00:19:05.420
and Emilie Flöge left the hubbub of Vienna behind

274
00:19:05.420 --> 00:19:06.570
to spend time together.

275
00:19:08.002 --> 00:19:10.835
[camera shutters]

276
00:19:12.180 --> 00:19:14.850
It couldn\'t be any other way,

277
00:19:14.850 --> 00:19:16.550
this enchanted break on the shores

278
00:19:16.550 --> 00:19:19.094
of the Attersee belonged to them.

279
00:19:19.094 --> 00:19:21.761
[somber music]

280
00:19:26.770 --> 00:19:30.730
In 1902, Emilie inspired in Gustav another way

281
00:19:30.730 --> 00:19:32.373
of painting the female body.

282
00:19:35.450 --> 00:19:39.610
Hugged by a sky-blue dress, surrounded by gold and enamel,

283
00:19:39.610 --> 00:19:42.140
the painter\'s brush gave her a dominant,

284
00:19:42.140 --> 00:19:43.800
almost sacred allure,

285
00:19:43.800 --> 00:19:46.243
in her dress dotted with golden motifs.

286
00:19:47.473 --> 00:19:50.140
[upbeat music]

287
00:19:55.140 --> 00:19:57.823
Klimt began a period of intense production.

288
00:20:01.150 --> 00:20:04.023
Gold gradually began to flood his paintings.

289
00:20:06.310 --> 00:20:08.740
Precious, immortal and sacred,

290
00:20:08.740 --> 00:20:11.083
gold flowed through the artist\'s veins.

291
00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:15.730
It was as if the memory of his gold-engraver father

292
00:20:15.730 --> 00:20:17.502
was pushing him in this direction.

293
00:20:17.502 --> 00:20:20.419
[enchanting music]

294
00:20:23.590 --> 00:20:27.083
In his studio, the painter didn\'t baulk at hard work.

295
00:20:28.550 --> 00:20:30.573
He\'d first paint his model nude,

296
00:20:31.900 --> 00:20:35.000
then gradually cover her, dress her,

297
00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:38.383
to hide the intimacy that only he experienced.

298
00:20:41.470 --> 00:20:43.500
Covered in precious metals,

299
00:20:43.500 --> 00:20:45.800
his models become femmes fatales.

300
00:20:45.800 --> 00:20:47.923
Gold charged them with erotic power.

301
00:20:51.940 --> 00:20:54.570
And the wealthy women of Vienna gave off,

302
00:20:54.570 --> 00:20:58.083
beneath the Byzantine motifs, a scent of scandal.

303
00:21:07.080 --> 00:21:11.990
In 1904, Emilie and her two sisters opened a couture salon.

304
00:21:11.990 --> 00:21:13.083
She had made it!

305
00:21:17.890 --> 00:21:21.000
The place was black and white and geometric,

306
00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:22.883
at the avant-garde of decoration!

307
00:21:25.660 --> 00:21:27.693
Emilie\'s clothes followed the movement.

308
00:21:29.300 --> 00:21:31.050
She removed corsets,

309
00:21:31.050 --> 00:21:33.680
draped women in Byzantine-inspired dresses,

310
00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:35.263
which followed their forms.

311
00:21:39.790 --> 00:21:43.023
She produced daring, unexpected color combinations.

312
00:21:46.170 --> 00:21:48.070
She designed a unique dress,

313
00:21:48.070 --> 00:21:50.597
which became known as the \"reformed dress\".

314
00:21:51.560 --> 00:21:53.800
A long, ample dress, cut straight

315
00:21:53.800 --> 00:21:56.493
and decorated with floral or graphic motifs.

316
00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:03.070
[upbeat music]

317
00:22:03.070 --> 00:22:05.910
60 seamstresses busied away in the salon,

318
00:22:05.910 --> 00:22:08.143
which had become the must-visit place.

319
00:22:10.800 --> 00:22:13.500
And Gustav Klimt wasn\'t left out!

320
00:22:13.500 --> 00:22:15.910
He contributed to promoting Emilie\'s business

321
00:22:15.910 --> 00:22:18.683
by designing the House\'s logo and dress labels.

322
00:22:20.080 --> 00:22:21.110
And moreover,

323
00:22:21.110 --> 00:22:23.446
he recommended the salon to his wealthy clients.

324
00:22:23.446 --> 00:22:26.029
[upbeat music]

325
00:22:32.257 --> 00:22:33.680
Emilie Flöge was now the most

326
00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:35.693
sought-after designer in Vienna.

327
00:22:37.880 --> 00:22:40.773
The two artists joined forces with creative fever.

328
00:22:41.970 --> 00:22:45.573
She, dressing women, he, putting them onto canvas.

329
00:22:52.190 --> 00:22:55.500
They complemented each other and became inseparable.

330
00:22:55.500 --> 00:22:58.613
Not exactly friends and not exactly lovers.

331
00:22:59.476 --> 00:23:04.476
[birds chirping]
[somber music]

332
00:23:05.951 --> 00:23:09.640
[camera shuttering]

333
00:23:09.640 --> 00:23:11.920
Gustav took a series of photographs of Emilie

334
00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:15.343
in her reformed dresses for a prestigious fashion magazine.

335
00:23:18.800 --> 00:23:21.400
She wore the heart-shaped pendant he had just given her

336
00:23:21.400 --> 00:23:22.983
for her 31st birthday.

337
00:23:27.220 --> 00:23:29.923
Emilie sensed she owned the painter\'s heart.

338
00:23:31.180 --> 00:23:32.903
And Gustav would prove it to her!

339
00:23:34.064 --> 00:23:36.981
[enchanting music]

340
00:23:51.926 --> 00:23:55.843
[singing in foreign language]

341
00:23:57.326 --> 00:24:01.973
In 1908, he finally finished his painting The Kiss.

342
00:24:01.973 --> 00:24:05.890
[singing in foreign language]

343
00:24:11.430 --> 00:24:14.580
Klimt betrayed his desire on the canvas,

344
00:24:14.580 --> 00:24:17.580
highlighting the embrace with the woman he had always loved.

345
00:24:20.350 --> 00:24:22.520
Eyes closed and kneeling,

346
00:24:22.520 --> 00:24:25.796
Emilie finally abandons herself to the painter.

347
00:24:25.796 --> 00:24:29.530
[singing in foreign language]

348
00:24:29.530 --> 00:24:33.620
Gustav Klimt\'s obsession inspired his greatest masterpiece,

349
00:24:33.620 --> 00:24:36.135
a genuine declaration of love for his muse!

350
00:24:36.135 --> 00:24:39.052
[enchanting music]

351
00:25:00.190 --> 00:25:04.810
Klimt died on February 6th, 1918, having one last time

352
00:25:04.810 --> 00:25:07.113
called the woman he loved to his bedside.

353
00:25:12.234 --> 00:25:15.800
After his death, Emilie inherited half of his estate,

354
00:25:15.800 --> 00:25:18.600
hundreds of drawings, his art collection

355
00:25:18.600 --> 00:25:20.373
and unfinished paintings.

356
00:25:21.240 --> 00:25:25.890
At her home, she dedicated a whole room to him, a mausoleum,

357
00:25:25.890 --> 00:25:29.400
where she placed all their souvenirs, his paintings

358
00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:31.653
and 200 letters he had written to her.

359
00:25:32.500 --> 00:25:35.830
In 1939, a fire ravaged her apartment.

360
00:25:35.830 --> 00:25:39.520
The flames claimed their co-creations, their souvenirs

361
00:25:39.520 --> 00:25:42.983
and the secrets of a love story that belonged only to them.

362
00:25:42.983 --> 00:25:45.900
[enchanting music]

363
00:25:49.085 --> 00:25:51.752
[upbeat music]