Gustav Klimt · 1900 -1916 · Salzkammergut
Klimt at the Attersee: summers, photography and the invention of the square landscape
On the edge of a turquoise lake, Klimt transforms the resort into a laboratory. Private photographs, spotting scope, cardboard viewfinder and square canvases help it bring water, gardens and villages together until they turn into almost abstract surfaces.
Direct response
Why is the Attersee decisive in Klimt's work?
From 1900 to 1916, Gustav Klimt spent almost all his summers around the Attersee, in Upper Austria, often with the Flöge family. Far from monumental commissions and Viennese controversies, he painted for himself. The lake, orchards, undergrowth, flowery facades and Kammer Castle become his most regular motifs.
However, these stays are not simple vacations. Klimt begins his paintings outdoors, works on several patterns at once and sometimes finishes the paintings in his Viennese studio when the weather or calendar forces him to leave. His routine combines precise observation, walking, swimming, boating and long sessions in front of the landscape.
Above all, the Attersee allows him to develop a very personal conception of the landscape. The square format stabilizes the image. The high viewpoint reduces the sky. The telescope brings distant architectures together. Fragmented touches transform leaves and reflections into mosaics. Nature remains identifiable, but it begins to function as an autonomous setting.
La Sommerfrische
The summer resort frees Klimt from Vienna's social obligations without interrupting his work.
The square
Neither vertical nor panoramic, the format equalizes directions and promotes a very constructed composition.
A mosaic nature
Reflections, leaves, flowers and windows become colorful units that fill the entire surface.
Four moments, three banks
Where is Klimt staying around the lake?
The photographs, letters and places still preserved make it possible to follow a gradual movement from north to south of the Attersee.
Litzlberg
Klimt stays at Bräuhof, an inn with rooms and boathouse on the north shore. He paints the water, the island, the orchards and the neighboring woods.
Villa Oleander
In Kammerl, the Flöge and Klimt family have direct access to the lake. Kammer Castle becomes a major motif, taken from several angles.
Interlude
After a summer mainly spent at Lake Garda, Klimt briefly returned to the Attersee. The only color photographs known of him date from this year.
Weissenbach
He seeks more calm on the south shore and rents a forest house. Unterach and the wooded slopes nourish his last paintings of the lake.
Get up early, paint, swim, start again
What is a day from Klimt to the lake like?
A letter from August 1902 describes a very precise rhythm. Klimt gets up around six o'clock, sometimes a little earlier or later. Weather permitting, he goes to paint in the nearby woods before breakfast. He then bathes in the lake, "with all necessary caution".
The rest of the day alternates new painting sessions, reading, naps and trips to the motifs. In the evening, a game of bowling can close the program. This regularity contradicts the image of an artist who would only rest on vacation.
The weather remains the main adversary. Wind, rain and changes in light force him to interrupt certain sessions. Paintings started at the lake can therefore be resumed and completed in Vienna.
First session
Morning calm and low light favor the observation of water and undergrowth.
Several paintings
Klimt works on different patterns simultaneously rather than waiting for a single painting to be completed.
A search walk
The pattern is discovered by moving forward, framing and returning to the same place.
A very photographed artist
What do Attersee photographs teach us?
They document intimacy, silhouette and viewing tools. However, they should not be confused with direct evidence of each painting session.
Photos taken by Emma Bacher-Paulick, Heinrich Böhler, Friedrich G. Walker and others show Klimt at the water's edge, in a boat, in a garden or with Emilie Flöge. They rebuild the atmosphere of the Sommerfrische and the circulation of a family and friendly group.
But no known photographs show Klimt painting a landscape at the Attersee. This absence is important. Historical images document living conditions and places; the pictorial method must be reconstructed with letters, preserved tools and analysis of paintings.
Before and after 1900
How is the square landscape invented?
The square does not come from a single influence. It brings together photography, decorative framing, Japonism and the desire to give the same strength to the four sides of the image.
The square neutralizes the narration
Without dominant horizontal direction, the gaze no longer "travels" easily from left to right. He explores the surface.
The square brings photography together
The prints and devices of the time encouraged attention to the fragment, the edge and the snapshot, without the painting being a copy of a cliché.
Square promotes ornament
Branches, flowers, wavelets and windows can repeat as units of a fabric or mosaic.
See before painting
Viewfinder, spotting scope and photography: three ways to frame
Klimt uses a Sucher, a viewfinder cut from a piece of cardboard, to isolate a pattern. This small frame allows you to exclude the panorama, quickly test the relationship between the masses and find the square proportions of the canvas.
The telescope and theater binoculars bring together villages and buildings on the other side of the lake. The depth compresses: Seewalchen Church, Kammer Castle and the banks may appear closer than they really are.
Photography finally reinforces the taste for fragments and cutting. However, you must avoid an equation that is too simple. Klimt does not necessarily photograph each motif before painting it; he shares a culture of framing with photography.
The viewfinder
It chooses what fits in the square and removes anything that disperses attention.
The telescope
It brings the distances together and reduces the differences in depth between architecture and vegetation.
Photography
It encourages fragment, snapshot and very clear awareness of the edges.
Six ways to fill a square
Not all Attersee landscapes are the same
The almost abstract water of the beginnings gives way to castles, parks, facades and villages. The format remains stable, but the relationship between depth and surface changes.
Kammer III Castle
The light facade, trees and water are brought back into the same network of small colorful units.
Park at Kammer Castle
The vegetation forms an almost impenetrable wall. The lake only appears in splinters between the trunks.
Wooded slope in Unterach
The village disappears. The slope becomes a tapestry of greens, cut by trunks and a few passages of light.
Avenue to Kammer
Perspective exists, but vertical trunks and canopy close the driveway like a stage setting.
Country house
The roof and windows remain, while flowers and foliage almost completely invade the construction.
Unterach Church
The telescope seems to bring the town closer together: bell towers, roofs and mountains overlap without classic atmospheric depth.
From pattern to painting
What remains of the places in Klimt today?
The lake and several buildings remain. The comparison above all shows everything that Klimt eliminates to obtain a dense, silent and anecdotal image.
The Gustav Klimt Zentrum in Schörfling and the thematic trail around the lake allow the paintings to be placed in the geography of their motifs. Several stations have square viewing frames which invite you to experiment with framing. Center schedules and site accessibility should be checked before visiting.
Reproductions and collections
Compose a set of Klimt landscapes
The square allows you to combine several patterns without creating too strong a hierarchy. Pond and village form a coherent diptych, completed by the large turquoise surface ofAttersee.
Kammer Castle Pond
See reproduction →
House in Unterach
See reproduction →Find the turquoise square format from 1900, its sizes and its hand-painted reproduction options.
Documentation verified
Main sources
Klimt Database · Attersee
Chronology of residences, links with the Flöge and Paulick families, work routine, places and reasons.
View folder →Klimt Database · Salzkammergut
First square landscape of 1899, stay in Golling and passage from Egelsee to Attersee.
Read the timeline →Leopold Museum· Attersee
Date, collection, radical composition of the painting and enthusiastic reception at the 1901 exhibition.
See the instructions →Leopold Museum · landscapes of Klimt
Analysis of the first square format, the Attersee, the water surface and the landscapes of Litzlberg.
Explore folder →Wien Museum · Klimt and Flöge in boat
Photograph from 1909, dimensions, inventory 157541 and CC0 license.
See the photograph →Neue Gallery · Klimt Landscapes
Relationship between landscapes, vacation, photography, square format and evolution of color.
Read the presentation →Visual credits: paintings by Gustav Klimt in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons and the collections cited; photograph of the boat, Wien Museum, CC0; historical photographs and views of the Attersee via Wikimedia Commons according to the licenses of each file; reproductions, Alpha Reproduction. Imported images are served by the Shopify CDN and each address only appears once in the body of the article.
Frequently asked questions
Klimt and the Attersee in eight responses
When is Klimt staying at the Attersee?
He spent almost all his summers there from 1900 to 1916, with a long stay at Lake Garda in 1913 and only brief visits to the Attersee that year.
Who does Klimt spend his vacation with?
He stays mainly in the circle of the Flöge family and the Paulicks. Emilie Flöge, his confidante and close companion, is present during many summers.
Where does he stay around the lake?
At the Bräuhof in Litzlberg from 1900 to 1907, at Villa Oleander from 1908 to 1912, then in a forest house in Weissenbach from 1914 to 1916.
Did Klimt invent the square landscape at the Attersee?
Not exactly. Its first known square landscape, One morning near the pond, was painted in 1899 at the Egelsee near Golling. The Attersee is the place where the square becomes its landscape rule.
Why do its landscapes appear flat?
The high point of view, tight framing, spotting scope and repetition of keys bring the shots closer together and reduce the classic depth.
Did Klimt photograph his designs before painting?
His fascination with photography is documented, but it is not established that he systematically photographed each motif. Above all, he uses a viewfinder, a spotting scope and direct observation.
Are there photographs of Klimt painting at the Attersee?
No known photograph actually shows him painting a landscape by the lake. The preserved photos document the places, loved ones and leisure activities.
Can we visit the places from Klimt to Attersee?
The Gustav Klimt Zentrum and the themed trail allow you to explore several motifs. Some villas are private; you must therefore check the timetables and respect access.
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