Gustav Klimt was raised in poverty in mid-nineteenth century Vienna but his precocious artistic talent raised him from the gutter to the heights of Austrian society. Initially a generic painter of historical scenes he soon devised his own unique style featuring semi-naked women in mystical, gold-wrapped, abstract landscapes that either completely enchanted or totally outraged his audience. His trademark heavily patterned, exotically beautiful women captured the sensuality and excitement of the time and electrified Viennese society. Klimt was the leading light of the Vienna Secession, the hugely influential artistic community, and also a leading Symbolist painter whose work places him among the artistic elite. Sadly many of Klimt's paintings were destroyed at the end of World War II but they at least remain as photographs to show the world what has been lost.