Garden with Roosters

Gustav Klimt was one of the important figures in Vienna's cultural history, painting portraits for wealthy patrons as well as mythological and allegorical works. Most of his paintings included women (in gold!) except for a few, including Garden with Roosters. This painting, among others, was destroyed in 1945 by retreating SS troops during World War II. If you want to hear couple of interesting things: we know Klimt was the father of 14 illegitimate children, that he feared mental illness, was charismatic enough for the writer Arthur Schnitzler to dream about, and that he had a passionate relationship with Alma Schindler who was to marry Gustav Mahler, complicating his friendship with his great Viennese musical contemporary.