Emilie Flöge spent many summers with Gustav Klimt at Lake Attersee from the 1890s on. Her sisters Pauline and Helene, with whom she opened the “Schwestern Flöge” fashion salon at Mariahilfer Strasse 1b in 1904, were often also part of the party. The salon, designed by Josef Hoffmann as a “Gesamtkunstwerk”, employed up to 80 seamstresses at the time of its greatest success and catered to the upper bourgeoisie. Helene Flöge was married to Ernst Klimt, the younger brother of Gustav Klimt, with whom he worked in a studio partnership.

This private photograph is captivating because of the contrast between the different silhouettes of the three figures, which reveals the emancipatory radicalism of the reform dress – in contrast to the usual dresses worn over a corset. Implicitly, as one might say, this also “quotes” the design element of repeated curved lines, as found in many of Gustav Klimt’s compositions. This is the only known print of this photograph [Negative number “4/93 IV” in the upper margin, handwritten annotated “Gustav Klimt Emilie Helene” in ink on the reverse.] | src Ostlicht