A character study and a meditation on art in a time of opulence and syphilis. Gustave
Klimt (1862-1918) lies in hospital, dying. In reveries, he recalls the early 1900s:
it's fin de siècle Vienna. At the World Exposition in Paris, Klimt meets Georges Méliès,
who does a moving picture for him, and Klimt falls under the spell of a woman who
may be Lea de Castro. We see Klimt in his studio; we meet his mother and sister,
who suffer from mental illness. We watch Klimt the libertine. On his deathbed and
as a younger man, he imagines things as well: encounters with ministers and waiters
and with women who are willing participants in his pleasures. Is this the source of art?