One of Austria's greatest painters would have celebrated his 150th birthday this year. As we mention in our iPhone Vienna guide Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) and his contemporaries had a major influence on the look of the Austrian capital.

  His paintings, in particular The Kiss – one of the world's best-known images – are rightly seen as epitomizing the spirit of optimism that heralded the dawn of the modernist era.   

  Our Vienna audio tour of the modernist city features the Secession Building, one of the most remarkable pieces of architecture of the time when Klimt was painting. Anyone planning a Vienna city break should make sure that they visit this remarkable building.

  High culture of all genres gravitated towards Vienna at around 1900. Exciting discoveries were being made in the world of literature, visual arts, architecture and music with an intensity hardly seen elsewhere. In 1910 Vienna had a population of two million, making it the world's fifth largest city and the uncontested cultural capital of Central Europe. Gustav Klimt's pictures reflect the artistic and scientific discoveries and developments that shaped the period. His oeuvre charts the course from the Ringstrasse era to the early days of abstraction: influenced by Hans Makart, the defining Viennese painter of the late 19th century, Klimt, his brother Ernst, and Franz Matsch accepted a number of commissions to decorate buildings on Vienna's showpiece Ringstrasse boulevard. The staircases of the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Burgtheater are two outstanding examples of their work. Klimt's creative output and the style he developed in later years paved the way for his younger contemporaries, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka. As we reported, the Egon Shiele museum was ten years old last year.

  With 22 pieces by the artist, Vienna's Belvedere is home to the world's largest Klimt collection. There are also major works on display at the Leopold Museum, the Wien Museum and the Albertina. Contemporary documents and other exhibits at the MAK and the Austrian National Library reveal yet more about Klimt and his life.  During 2012, Klimt's anniversary year, visitors to Vienna can experience how the artist and his Wiener Moderne contemporaries shape our thoughts and lives to this day, and discover why this era has lost nothing of its allure over time. If you do decide to visit Vienna this year then don’t forget our Vienna iPhone guide.