Emilie Louise Flöge

Emilie Flöge was a member of the Viennese bohemian and Fin de siècle circles. She was the life companion of the painter Gustav Klimt.^[7][8] In 1891, Helene, one of Emilie's two older sisters, married Ernst Klimt, the brother of Gustav Klimt. When Ernst died in December 1892, Gustav was made Helene's guardian. At that time Emilie was eighteen years old and Gustav became a frequent guest at the home of her parents, spending the summers with the Flöge family at Lake Attersee.^[1] Numerous photographs document Klimt with Emilie and her family.^[9][10]

Klimt may have drawn some garments for the Flöge salon in the reform dress style, but this is frequently discounted in favor of the idea that the Flöge sisters designed the dresses themselves.[12] The clientele for what was at that time a revolutionary fashion was too small to provide a living, however, and she earned money accordingly through conventional styles.^[13] Klimt was painting many women from the upper echelons of Viennese society and thus was able to introduce Emilie Flöge to a prosperous client base.^[14] Klimt died from a stroke on 11 January 1918. His last words reportedly were, "Emilie must come."^[15] She inherited half of Klimt's estate, the other half going to the painter's family.^[1]

In the final days of the Second World War, her house in the Ungargasse caught fire, destroying not only her collection of garments, but also valuable objects from the estate of Gustav Klimt.^[16]

Flöge died at the age of 77 in Vienna on 26 May 1952 and was buried in the Flöge-Donner family grave at the Protestant Cemetery in Simmering on 30 May 1952.^[17] The cemetery authorities designated it as a celebrity grave and restored the tombstone for the 150th Anniversary Year of Gustav Klimt.^{[citation needed]} The grave is now included on their website.^[18]

Legacy

Her style has been commented to have influenced the portrait First Lady Michelle Obama, by Amy Sherald in 2018.^[19]

Images

• 
  Reconstruction after a dress from the fashion salon Schwestern Flöge (c. 1909)
• 
  Bathing costume from the estate of Emilie Flöge
• 
  Photogravure of Flöge in Schörfling am Attersee, taken by Heinrich Böhler (1909)
• 
  Flöge and Klimt in Schörfling am Attersee, taken by Heinrich Böhler (1909)

References and sources

References