Gustav Klimt died on February 6, 1918, in Vienna, at the age of 55. A stroke had paralyzed him weeks earlier, and he died after pneumonia set in. Some accounts also blame the Spanish flu, but the detailed record of his last weeks never mentions it.
He died in the last winter of the First World War, while the paintings he had been working on still stood on the easels of his studio.
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The longer accounts follow Klimt step by step, from the stroke to the pneumonia, and influenza has no place in them. At 55, the stroke alone could have been fatal.
The stroke of January 11, 1918
From that day on, Klimt could no longer paint, and he had only a few weeks left. The day after his death, a younger painter came to draw him on his deathbed.
What You'll Discover
What the Spanish flu story rests on.
Who drew him after he died.
What was left on his easels.
Who claimed a share of his estate.