Gustav Klimt
(1862-1918)
Forester’s House in Weissenbach II (Garden), 1914
Oil on canvas
Neue Galerie New York
This work is part of the collection of Estée Lauder and was made available through the generosity of Estée Lauder. Photo: Hulya Kolabas
In the summer of 1914, Gustav Klimt vacationed in Weissenbach, a village on the south eastern shore of the Attersee in the Salzkammergut lake region of Austria. Klimt lodged at the forester’s house and painted it twice that year. In this bucolic picture, he reveled in the interplay between the open and closed windows, which offer tantalizing vignettes into the house and beyond. A lush blanket of ivy covers the façade. The overall green tenor of the painting is punctuated by vivid spots of color introduced through blooming flowers in the garden and window boxes.
Klimt’s passionate zeal for nature sustained him, and he found succor from the stresses of daily life and the requests of demanding clients through immersion in nature’s revitalizing bounty.
The work is featured in “Austrian Masterworks from the Neue Galerie.”