27 Quotes by Gustav Klimt

On my first days here I did not start work immediately but, as planned, I took it easy for a few days - flicked through books, studied Japanese art a little.

Even when I have to write a simple letter I'm scared stiff as if faced with looming seasickness.

Today I want to start working again in earnest - I'm looking forward to it because doing nothing does become rather boring after a while.

Then I paint again for a while: if the sun is shining a picture of the lake, if it's overcast then a landscape from the window of my room.

There is nothing that special to see when looking at me.

There is no self-portrait of me.

I have the gift of neither the spoken nor the written word, especially if I have to say something about myself or my work. Whoever wants to know something about me -as an artist, the only notable thing- ought to look carefully at my pictures and try and see in them what I am and what I want to do.

I have never painted a self-portrait. I am less interested in myself as a subject for a painting than I am in other people, above all women... There is nothing special about me. I am a painter who paints day after day from morning to night... Who ever wants to know something about me... ought to look carefully at my pictures.

There is always hope, as long as the canvases are empty.