Although much of Gustav Klimt's work is well recognized, his painting Hope II (1907-1908) has received little attention in academic studies. Rejected by his peers on its initial exhibition, this work was found offensive by even his staunchest supporters. Second wave feminists have also been critical of his painting, finding in it an objectification of women. This is likely due in part to the central subject of the piece involving pregnancy. Klimt was unafraid to paint images that shocked and diverged from traditional aesthetic styles. During a time of rapid social change and development of the feminist movement, Klimt offered fin-de-siècle Vienna an image that invited conversations about female sexuality, identity, and fertility. This paper constitutes a rereading of Klimt as empathetic to the female experience by way of a close analysis of Hope II. The artist's closeness to many women indicates his awareness of their plight. His portrayal of fertility in this painting offered a new perspective of womanhood in art with a depiction of woman as autonomous and empowered. Criticism from second-wave feminists often follows Klimt's work. However, his continued representation of the female body should be read as a glorification of the body rather than objectification of it.

This thesis will introduce the Viennese Modernism from the background of social and aesthetic changes at the turn of the 20th century. First will be outlined the social situation around 1900 and a position of bourgeois class in this society, because this class is where the culture of Viennese Modernism came from. From this social status as well as numerous scandals of modern art in this conservative society will be explained the organization of the cultural life of the young generation of artists. Furthermore there will also be introduced the Modernism in painting, architecture and music by their major artists. Similarly, in literature will be presented Hermann Bahr as an organizer of the literary group Young Vienna and his biggest opponent Karl Kraus, the satirist of his time. Thematically, the work of the authors of Young Vienna is divided into three areas, namely into the image of the society, which is mainly reflected in the work of Arthur Schnitzler and Peter Altenberg, aestheticism, which is also the subject of the most important works by Leopold Andrian, Richard Beer-Hofmann and the early dramas of Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The last theme is Chandos-Brief, written by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, which is a document of the language crisis in this time.

The Prague based Haase printing and publishing company played an important role in the development of polygraphy, typography, significantly contributed to the Czech national revival and during its existence collaborated with many artists in some cases of world importance. This PhD thesis tries to bring knowledge to the applied graphic art in the Czech lands in general, but also describes the most important historical events of the Haase company, especially these with influence on its art production. The PhD thesis examines the process of graphic work creation and tries to place selected works in the context of work of individual authors and the fine art in the Central European area in general. It is also focused on the nationality issue and the role it played in the selection of artists with whom the Haase company collaborated.