Gustav Klimt · Weissenbach · 1914
Forest ranger's house in Weissenbach
A facade almost entirely swallowed by ivy, windows like sewn squares and a garden transformed into a flowery border: Klimt paints a real house like a living fabric.
The short answer
The house disappears under its own garden
Forest ranger's house in Weissenbach II is a square oil painted in 1914, during the first of Klimt's last three summers on the southeast bank of the Attersee. The painter frames the facade very closely: the roof closes the top, the garden fills the bottom and the ivy connects the windows like a continuous fabric.
Four structures
How a facade becomes a composition
Beneath the plant abundance, the canvas rests on a firm grid. Klimt balances the lines of the house and the irregularity of the garden.
Six main openings
Windows open, closed or crossed by the eye alternate like different boxes in the same pattern.
A strip of tesserae
The shingles divided into small touches close the square and give the roof the appearance of a mosaic.
A continuous tablecloth
Vegetation covers the walls, bypasses the windows and connects all parts of the facade.
A colorful border
Yellow, pink and purple flowers punctuate the green like the accents of embroidery.
See the entire work
Neither portrait of a house, nor simple garden
The building remains recognizable: shingle roof, light coating, shutters, windows, terrace and furniture. However, it never detaches itself from the landscape. Ivy transforms the wall into a living mass; the flowers of the meadow seem to rise on the facade.
The square brings everything together in a frontal plane. There is little depth, but many passages: an open window shows the interior, another reveals the grass behind the house, yet another closes like an opaque plate.
Facade and textile pattern
Why does the painting evoke a fabric?
Klimt doesn't literally copy fabric. It uses principles common to tapestry, mosaic and decorative arts: repetition, weft, border and colorful accents.
Windows as sewn squares
The facade forms the support. Vertical and horizontal frames divide the surface into compartments. Each window becomes a variant: curtain, shadow, reflection, plant or opening.
Flowers as repeated patterns
The pink, yellow and purple touches are not only used to describe species. They distribute intensity points which prevent the green from becoming uniform.
Ivy as a continuous thread
Leaves pass in front of the coating, bypass openings and blur boundaries. The wall seems less constructed than woven by vegetation.
Observe closely
Windows, ivy and garden in close-up
Close framing allows Klimt to make ordinary details the real events in the painting.
Do not confuse
Weissenbach I and Weissenbach II
Both paintings date from 1914 and show the same house, but they answer two distinct visual questions.
| Appearance | Forest house I | Forest house II |
|---|---|---|
| Framing | Wider view of the building in a sloping meadow. | Close-up of the front on the facade and the terrace. |
| Background | The Schoberstein's side closes the top of the image. | The roof occupies the upper edge; the exterior landscape is almost absent. |
| Main motive | Relationship between house, flower meadow and mountain. | Relationship between windows, ivy, pots and garden. |
| Space | Compressed depth, as seen through binoculars. | Frontal surface close to a plant tapestry. |
| Collection | Private collection; the work was presented on loan at the Belvedere. | New New York Gallery, Estée Lauder collection. |
The same summer, the same landscape
Architecture and nature around the Attersee
To understand Weissenbach, we must place him in Klimt's long research on houses embedded in vegetation.
Forest house in Weissenbach I
The building, the meadow and the mountain form a closed paradise where the real road disappears.
See reproduction →
Kammer Castle Alley
The trees build natural architecture, while the castle becomes a small yellow destination.
See Alley →
Unterach Church
The facades and roofs are stacked in colorful planes, without panoramic depth.
See the landscapes →
Wooded slope in Unterach
The ground and trunks become a tight network of keys, close to a textile pattern.
Explore forests →
Attersee
The lake fills almost the entire square and shows how far Klimt can reduce a place to its colorful surface.
Explore the Attersee →Real photographs
Weissenbach, refuge of recent summers
From 1914, Klimt left the usual places of Kammer and settled in the forest house at the entrance to the Weissenbach valley. He seeks calm there while the Flöge family stays nearby, in Haus Donner.
Weissenbach and the relief
View from Kleiner Schoberstein: the village, the bank and the wooded slopes explain the tight space of the late landscapes.
Klimt in Weissenbach
Gustav Klimt and Friederike Maria Beer on a walk during the summer of 1916, the painter's last season at the Attersee.
What Klimt chooses to erase
A paradise built, far from the road and war
The house was near a road leading into the Weissenbach valley and towards Bad Ischl. In the first version, Klimt omits this route and reduces traffic signs. In the second, the frontal framing excludes almost any external context.
This selection does not mean that the painter is unaware of history: he arrived in Weissenbach during the summer of 1914, when the First World War began. But his landscapes do not describe the conflict. They build a space of withdrawal, saturated with nature, where the house seems protected by its ivy.
Klimt rented the forest house and painted the two views of Weissenbach.
From the south bank, he returned by painting to Litzlberg and observed Unterach.
Last summer at the Attersee; late landscapes gain color and freedom.
Version II belongs to the Estée Lauder collection presented at the Neue Galerie New York.
For your interior
A rich but structured plant square
The frontality of the facade gives a stable presence, while the ivy and flowers bring a continuous vibration. This composition works particularly well in a bright living room, an entrance, an office or near natural textiles: linen, green velvet, weathered wood and brass.
See Weissenbach's reproduction →Important collections
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Frequently asked questions
Understand everything about the House of Weissenbach
When did Klimt paint the Ranger's House in Weissenbach?
Both versions date from 1914, the first year of his last three summer stays in Weissenbach.
Where is version II today?
At the Neue Galerie New York. It is part of the Estée Lauder collection and was made available to the museum thanks to Estée Lauder.
What are its dimensions?
The canvas measures 110 × 110 cm, a square format common in Klimt landscapes.
What is the difference between versions I and II?
Version I shows the house on the meadow, in front of the mountain. Version II frames the facade very closely and emphasizes the windows, ivy and terrace.
Did Klimt actually live in this house?
Yes. He rented rooms in this forest house during his stays in Weissenbach between 1914 and 1916.
Why do we talk about textile patterns?
The window grille, the repetition of leaves, the small touches of the roof and the flowery border organize the surface like a tapestry or a mosaic.
What do we see in the windows?
Depending on the openings, there are curtains, flower pots, a dark interior or a breakthrough towards the meadow located behind the house.
Can we see the painting all the time in New York?
The Neue Galerie regularly presents his major works by Klimt, but the hanging may change. It is prudent to consult the collection page before visiting.
Verified sources
Museums and archives
New New York Gallery
Official sheet of version II, collection, context, windows, ivy and garden.
ResearchGustav Klimt Database
Stays from 1914 -1916, comparison of the two versions and late landscapes of the Attersee.
Public archiveKlimt in Weissenbach in 1916
Source and public domain status of historical photography with Friederike Maria Beer.
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