Who was Emilie Flöge? Muse to painter Gustav Klimt, avant-garde designer, forgotten icon!

foreign [Music] who exactly was Emily flurgen the woman mostly known as The Muse of Austrian painter Gustav Klimt although he did paint her portrait and used her Unique Style and image to bring life to many female characters in his art she would eventually become so much more than that so let's get to know a little bit more about this fascinating figure that was really prominent in the Viennese art world in the early 1900s [Music] Emily Luis fleurge was born in Austria Vienna to Barbara and Hermann August Logan was an entrepreneur who manufactured the so-called mershon pipes with seafoam pipes mirchom is a soft white mineral clay used to make mostly beautifully decorated smoking pipes Emily was the youngest child of the couple having two older sisters Helen and Pauline and a brother Herman foreign [Music] Vienna was a very thriving Place scientifically culturally and economically it was an effervescent bubble of wealth style and Innovations of All Sorts artistically the Vienna citizen the Austrian correspondent of Art Nouveau and the winner or Vienna Workshop were already reshaping the Notions of taste and modernity they were composed of many types of artists such as painters sculptors Architects and designers working with Ceramics furniture or fashion prominent names such as Gustav claimed column Yosef Hoffman Auto Wagner or Doug where the promise of a new artistic Renaissance perfectly in tune with the new more modern world and its needs foreign [Music] backdrop of Emily fleger's life growing up in This Magnificent City that inspired her to pursue her own path as an innovator of her era artistically gifted and business oriented Emily was one of the few women entrepreneurs of her day creating along with her two sisters Pauline and Helen the very popular fashion salon or the flugge sisters open in 1904 on the very famous Mariah the studio was designed by coloman moza and was the epitome of Vina vektata in its overall concept and decor the garments produced by the schwustin flurger studio Were Made In The Same Spirit of modernity Simplicity and elegance of course they were careful enough to design and sell dresses and accessories more in Conformity with the era but alongside these they made available some more daring and Innovative pieces which many of Vienna's upper class ladies were thrilled to wear foreign [Music] [Music] the idea for the more Couture garments was affiliated with the rational dress Society movement this was a movement started in England as part of the Victorian dress reform that was basically against any type of fashion that restrained women in their movement and many times even provoked injuries by deforming the natural shape of the figure these elements were corsets bodices crinolines and heavy skirts and dresses that made any kind of exercise nearly impossible the Alternatives were loose fitting garments mostly dresses that allowed freedom of movement without compromising in the Elegance of the design and patterns clothes were supposed to be serving the needs of those that wore them stylish and similar to present day Fashions at the same time this is what Gabrielle Coco Chanel did much later in Paris with her Atelier on the rudu Campbell only she opposed to Emily flogger was never forgotten for it [Music] [Music] and now let's talk about the Gustav Klimt connection came into each other's lives at the moment Helen and fluger married Glenn's brother Ernest in 1891. one year later Ernest died leaving Helen with her small daughter alone that is until Gustav stepped in for his brother and offered to support the two and took a greater role in the whole fluke family this meant that he and the 18 year old Emily 12 years his Junior ended up spending time together eventually becoming inseparable although it is not proven that they were more than just close friends fluge remained forever in Glenn's life as an essential presence neither of them ever married claimed being Infamous for having many Affairs which produced about 14 illegitimate children the only constant in his life was Emily he painted this portrait of her in 1902 when she was 28 years old wearing her signature reformed glider style dress these patterns can be found in many of Glimpse paintings from the early 1900s and it's still debatable whether he was the one to offer inspiration for Emily's designs or the other way around my guess is that they were both searching together for the next artistic formula that would best represent their ideals and aesthetic and ended up inspiring each other let's take a minute to analyze this portrait at this point at 28 years of age Emily fluge was already an established name and had her regular set of clients from Vienna's upper class the very same woman that had a portraits notoriously painted by klempt so he introduced Emily in the world of wealthy women who were Keen to wear her unique avant-garde creations but it is due to her talent and business Acumen that the schwezenfluger thrived and became Vienna's most sought after fashion house so this portrait unlike previous ones in which Clint simply paints her liking or even places her in a historical context this one represents the actual woman her unique personality her beauty her charm her success and everything that she meant to him at that point because she had her own accomplishments and individuality she became much more than just amused in service of his art but rather someone whom he could also draw inspiration from [Music] thank you this is the essence of their relationship a partnership for a lifetime romantic or not although there are over 400 letters and postcards sent from claim to fliga it is still unclear if they had an intimate relationship or not or even if the female character in Glenn's famous painting the kiss is Emily or the idea of Emily we observe closer the image doesn't really resemble that of Emily some experts believe the red-haired female character is indeed Emily the painting being the symbol of an almost kind of Sacred Love completely different relationship for any other in-glims life others argue the red haired movement could also be Hilda Roth a Hungarian model seen before a number of other clean paintings like danai lady with hat and feather boa and goldfish but what do you think the many photographs showing climbed among the fluger family at Lake atoze where they used to run the Villa only under in Kama the sheriff Link in the Summers between 1908 1912 are proof of just how close the painter and the whole fluger family really were [Music] foreign [Music] life ended in 1918 after suffering from pneumonia which was linked to the world spread influenza pandemic that was happening at the time and had a fatal stroke on his deathbed he called for Emily and left her half of his estate including artworks Emily continued working at the shresthan vlogger studio right above the famous cafe Casa Picola until 1938 when it was closed due to the Austrian Angelus or annexation to Nazi Germany she continued nevertheless working from her home in Hungary until he caught fire just before the second world war was coming to an end destroying not only her own work but also valuable items from the Clinton estate that she inherited died at the age of 78 in Vienna she never married and never stopped working for the Happy Days of stressed and vlogger were a distant memory by then later becoming only a footnote in the Viennese art World from the beginning of the 20th century nowadays we can find more and more resources documenting life and work of this iconic woman that inhabited both sides of the Viennese said this young the one of the Muse and the one of the pioneer [Music] foreign [Music] thank you for watching and please write below if you have any comments about the life of Emily flurger and her connection to painter Gustav Klimt if you enjoyed this episode subscribe and join me next time when we will be unraveling another layer in art

Channel: Layers in Art

Views: 11,623

Keywords: Layers in Art, Emilie Floge, Gustav Klimt, Wiener Werkstatte, Vienna Secession, Schwestern Floge, avant-garde design, turn of the century Vienna, fashion inovation, reform dress, reform kleidung, rational dress society, original chanel

Id: YrOP8TvCeN4

Length: 12min 19sec (739 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 07 2023