In celebration of the 150th birthday of Gustav Klimt, MAK Vienna presents the cartoons for the mosaic frieze at Stoclet House

In 1905, Adolphe Stoclet commissioned a private mansion in Brussels. A synthesis of the arts, it was decorated by artists from and friends of the Wiener Werkstätte. Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) designed a three-part mosaic frieze consisting of fifteen separate components for the dining room of Stoclet House.

Klimt’s famous cartoons, including the motifs Expectation, Fulfillment, and The Tree of Life, were produced in 1910/11. He was very explicit in his instructions to the Wiener Werkstätte about his ideas for the material, nuances of color, and surface reflections. On the occasion of the completion of the frieze’s restoration, this publication now traces Klimt’s approach and compares his instructions with the pieces of the mosaic executed by the Wiener Werkstätte and relics of their work. It also includes details on the restoration and conservation of the frieze, and sheds light on the appropriation of the motifs in terms of history and art history as well as Klimt’s reception of Japanese painting.