Gustav Klimt said regarding his painting "I can paint and draw. I believe this myself and a few other people say that they believe this too. But I"m not certain of whether it"s true." His commitment to painting is understood when he said "There is nothing that special to see when looking at me. I"m a painter who paints day in day out, from morning till evening-figure pictures and landscapes, more rarely portraits." To understand him was in his painting "Whoever wants to know something about me-as an artist, the only notable thing-ought to look carefully at my pictures and try and see in them what I am and what I want to do." Gustav Klimt was one of the most innovative and controversial artists of the early twentieth century. Klimt used a lot of gold and silver colors in his art work. Klimt"s mature style combined richly decorative surface patterning with complex symbolism and allegory, often with overtly erotic content. In 1897 Gustav Klimt founded with other artists the Vienna Secession and became its first president. By that time Klimt had developed his own characteristic style, which should become the trademark of the movement. Like Impressionism, Art Nouveau was an international revolt against the traditional academic art style. It was Gustav Klimt and his fellows, artist fellows, who gave a significant contribution to the modern art of the 20th Century.