Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), the leader of the Vienna Secession learned his skills adorning the new buildings of the Ringstrasse with majestic murals, yet at the height of his fame he found that he was pushing too far into the avant garde for most of his bourgeois patrons. His images of the femme fatale are definitive encapsulations of turn of the 19th century decadence and sensuality, and have retained an enduring fascination. Above all his works are gloriously decorative, exuberantly anticipating Art Deco. This lecture seeks to locate Klimt within the social milieu of Vienna and investigate his charming personality and idiosyncratic art.