Emilie Flöge: Klimt's Companion and Muse

Who Emilie Flöge was

Emilie Flöge was an Austrian fashion designer, businesswoman, and the lifelong companion of Gustav Klimt. She led one of Vienna’s most progressive fashion salons and introduced loose reform clothing that freed women from corsets. When you study the Viennese avant-garde, Flöge stands out as a creative professional who built an independent commercial career.

She was born Emilie Louise Flöge in Vienna on 30 August 1874. Her father, Hermann Flöge, was a master turner and manufacturer of Meerschaum pipes. She grew up with two older sisters, Pauline and Helene, and a brother named Hermann.

Flöge began her career as a seamstress. In 1894, she worked at a dressmaking school opened by her sister Pauline. Her technical skill developed rapidly over the following years. In 1899, Emilie and Pauline won a dressmaking competition and earned a commission to make a batiste exhibition dress. That same year, Flöge handmade the wedding dress for the mother of Maria Altmann. These early successes established her reputation as a skilled couturière.

Emilie Flöge and Klimt

The connection between Emilie Flöge and Gustav Klimt started through family ties in 1891. In that year, Emilie’s sister Helene married Klimt’s brother, Ernst Klimt. When Ernst died in December 1892, Gustav was appointed Helene’s guardian and the guardian of her infant daughter. Klimt became a frequent visitor at the Flöge home when Emilie was eighteen years old.

Their friendship developed into a lifelong bond. English Wikipedia describes Flöge as the life companion of Gustav Klimt. German Wikipedia notes that while many assume Flöge was Klimt’s companion and muse, there is no direct evidence to prove it. Biographers describe their connection as an intellectual and emotional intimacy rather than a physical relationship.

Klimt portrayed Flöge in numerous drawings and studies after 1891. She occupies a distinct position among the women in Klimt’s paintings. Her presence influenced his approach to pattern, ornament, and modern female identity.

Art experts frequently debate whether Klimt pictured Flöge in his most famous canvas. Experts consider that Klimt depicted Emilie Flöge and himself as the lovers in The Kiss. Other historians disagree and note that the sheet does not settle the question. It is not known with certainty whether Flöge modeled for the woman in that painting.

The Schwestern Flöge fashion salon

In 1904, Emilie Flöge established the haute couture salon Schwestern Flöge with her sisters Helene and Pauline. The salon operated at Casa-Piccola-Haus at Mariahilfer Strasse 1b in central Vienna. The architect Josef Hoffmann designed the salon’s interior in the Jugendstil manner. Flöge used this setting to present garments designed in the style of the Wiener Werkstätte.

The boutique grew into a major commercial enterprise. At its peak, the salon employed up to 80 seamstresses. Flöge traveled to Paris and London to observe new fashion developments from designers such as Coco Chanel and Christian Dior. Klimt helped her business by introducing Flöge to wealthy upper-class Viennese women whose portraits he painted, providing her with a prosperous clientele.

Flöge became celebrated for designing bespoke reform dresses. These garments had high bodices, wide billowing sleeves, and loose silhouettes worn without corsets. The Viennese feminist movement promoted the reform dress because it improved women’s health and physical mobility.

Historical records present differing views on who designed these garments. German sources state that Klimt designed several reform dresses for the salon. English sources state that Klimt drawing garments is often discounted in favor of the Flöge sisters designing them themselves. Because the market for reform garments was small, Flöge earned her primary living by producing conventional styles. The salon operated successfully until 1938, when the Anschluss forced Flöge to close her doors after losing her core clients.

The 1902 portrait

Klimt began his full-length Portrait of Emilie Flöge in 1902 and completed it by the summer of 1908. The oil painting measures 181 centimeters high and 84 centimeters wide. It shows Flöge standing in a tall, narrow composition against a mottled background.

Flöge wears a long, blue-mottled reform dress of her own design. Klimt filled the blue fabric with rows of spirals, small dots, and gold squares. He applied genuine silver and gold leaf directly to the decorative bands of the garment. Flöge looks directly at the viewer with her hands resting lightly near her hips, creating a calm and confident silhouette.

The painting debuted in November 1903 at the Vienna Secession’s Klimt Kollektiv exhibition under the title Bildnis einer Dame. Neither Flöge nor Klimt felt satisfied with the finished piece. Flöge did not like the portrait, and her family declined to hang it in their residence. Klimt promised to paint another portrait of Emilie Flöge, but he never produced one.

In 1904, Klimt offered to sell the painting to the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Culture and Education. He sold it in the summer of 1908. English Wikipedia notes that he sold it to the Lower Austria Museum, while German Wikipedia states it was sold to the Historical Museum of the City of Vienna. The portrait transferred to Vienna’s municipal collections in 1921 and remains on permanent display at the Vienna Museum.

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Summers at the Attersee

Gustav Klimt spent his summers with the Flöge family at Lake Attersee in upper Austria. Records document that Klimt and Flöge spent the summers from 1910 to 1916 together at the lake. The rural landscape provided both of them a quiet retreat from their demanding work in Vienna.

While at the lake, Klimt stepped away from commissioned portraiture to paint outdoor scenes. He painted orchards, church towers, and the shimmering surface of the water, which you can read about in our guide to Klimt’s landscapes and the Attersee. Flöge accompanied him on these walks and boat excursions.

Numerous photographs document Klimt together with Emilie Flöge and her family during these holidays. The images show Klimt in his dark blue painting robe and Flöge in loose, patterned reform dresses. These private snapshots record their easy companionship away from urban society.

After Klimt’s death

Gustav Klimt suffered a stroke and died on 6 February 1918. His reported final words before passing were, “Emilie must come.” His death brought an end to a close personal partnership that had spanned more than a quarter of a century.

Flöge inherited half of Klimt’s estate, while the artist’s family received the other half. In her home, Flöge kept a locked room dedicated to Klimt’s memory. Inside, she preserved many of his personal belongings alongside hundreds of his drawings.

From 1938 until her death, Flöge lived and worked on the top floor of 39 Ungargasse in Vienna. In the final days of World War II, a fire broke out at the Ungargasse building. The fire destroyed Flöge’s collection of historical garments as well as the personal objects from Klimt’s estate.

Emilie Flöge died in Vienna on 26 May 1952 at the age of seventy-seven. Historical sources differ slightly on her burial place. English records state that she was buried in the Flöge-Donner family grave at the Protestant Cemetery in Simmering on 30 May 1952. German records state that she was laid to rest in the Flöge sisters’ family grave in the Protestant section of Vienna Central Cemetery.