Gustav Klimt

Perhaps the most well-known of Vienna's artists, Klimt was born in 1862 into a lower middle class family with 7 children. His prime years were spent in Vienna during it's golden age, where he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Schiele, Kokoschka,Wagner, Mahler and Freud, among many many others.


Anecdotes:
From 1914 to 1916, Klimt spent 3 years making a portrait of Elisabeth Bachofen- Echt. She finally got fed up of the costumes, the strange poses and Klimt's dissatisfaction with the results, and walked off with an unfinished version of the painting. When Klimt later saw this painting displayed in the salon, he exclaimed: "now that is most certainly not her." Elisabeth's mother, who had commissioned the painting went on to commission another portrait from Klimt, this time of her mother.
 
Source: http://www.austria.info/uk/art-culture/gustav-klimt-anecdotes-1545347.html
The painting: http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/gustav-klimt/portrait-of-baroness-elisabeth-bachofen-echt-1916