Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was an Austrian artist of the Symbolist school. His works included female forms and eroticism. Among his paintings are The Tree of Life (1909) and the 1907 portrait known as Adele Bloch-Bauer I, which in 2006 sold for a record $135 million.

There is usually one and the same answer to those questions 'Why did XXX become an artist?' Because they felt they had the talent and the urge. It is as simple as that!

He died of pneumonia in 1918.

something he did at art school which is now long forgotten

It is a mural on the dining room wall in the Palais Stoclet, Brussels, Belgium (not open to the public).

The sketches are in the Museum für angewandte Kunst (Museum of Applied Arts) in Vienna, Austria.

In the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, Austria

Klimt died in 1918 of pneumonia.

The tree of life is the central motif of the frieze. For Klimt, it is a symbol in which all the motifs important to him are united, from flower to woman, from the death of vegetation to the rebirth of the seasons. Trees and women intermingle in paradise, in a magical world in which people dance and love one another.

someone in 1882

And Religion of Austria is largely Roman Catholic in nature with staunch orthodoxy prevailing in the lives of the countrymen for long period of time.

In one of his most famous paintings, The Kiss, he used oil on canvas. This painting was made in 1908-08, is roughly 6' x 6', and is now in Vienna at the Oesterreichische Galerie in Belvedere.