GUSTAV KLIMT - THE WORLD "IN FEMALE FORM." GUSTAV KLIMT'S ART IS THROUGHLY FIN DE SIECLE. IT EXPRESSES THE APOCALYPTIC ATMOSPHERE OF VIENNA S UPPER MIDDLE-CLASS SOCIETY - A SOCIETY DEVOTED TO THE CULTIVATION OF AESTHETIC AWARENESS AND THE CULT OF PLEASURE. THE ECSTATIC JOY WHICH KLIMT AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES FOUND - OR HOPED TO FIND - IN BEAUTY WAS CONSTANTLY OVERSHADOWED BY DEATH. AND DEATH THEREFORE PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN KLIMT'S ART. KLIMT'S FAME, HOWEVER, RESTS ON HIS REPUTATION AS ONE OF THE GREATEST EROTIC PAINTERS AND GRAPHIC ARTISTS OF HIS TIMES. PARTICULARLY HIS DRAWINGS, WHICH HAVE BEEN WIDELY ADMIRED FOR THEIR ARTISTIC EXCELLENCE, ARE DOMINATED BY THE EROTIC PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN, KLIMT SAW THE WORLD "IN FEMALE FORM." GOTTFRIED FLIEDL ALSO DISCUSSES THE SECESSION MOVEMENT AND KLIMT'S ROLE WITHIN THIS GROUP OF ARTISTS. EXAMINING KLIMT'S WORK AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF HIS TIMES, HE GIVES AN APPRAISAL OF THE ARTIST WHILE AT THE SAME TIME RAISING THE CRITICAL ISSUES.