Gustav Klimt, born July 14, 1862, is credited with the popularization of the school of painting known as the Vienna Secession. He began his career as an illustrator and soon became an important muralist. Klimt was a cofounder and the first president of the Vienna Secession, a group of artists, architects, and decoraters who organized their own exhibition society and started the secession movement in Vienna. He died Feb. 6, 1918.