Gustav Klimt · 1907 · square landscape
Country garden with sunflowers: floral abundance and square composition
No sky, no path, almost no rest: Klimt fills the square of a peasant garden where large sunflowers, phloxes and small colorful flowers become a living tapestry.
Direct response
Why does this garden seem both natural and entirely composed?
Klimt starts from a real rural garden, probably located near the Bräuhof in Litzlberg on the Attersee. However, he paints it neither as a panorama nor as a botanical study. Its viewfinder isolates a very tight portion: the heads cut off by the edges suggest that the flowers continue outside the painting.
The square eliminates any dominant direction. Neither the horizontal of the landscape nor the vertical of the portrait controls alone. Sunflowers rise, small flowers spread out, green masses connect the top and bottom. The surface becomes "all-over": each area participates in the same colored fabric.
This abundance is not random. The large yellow flowers form anchor points, the reds revive the eyes and the whites create small breaths. Klimt therefore organizes profusion like a musical composition made of patterns, accents and covers.
An enlarged fragment
Flowers cut at the edges give the impression of a much larger garden.
Landmark sunflowers
Their size and yellow crowns stabilize the surrounding profusion.
A living mosaic
Leaves and small corollas fill the intervals without becoming a neutral background.
Apple tree II shows how Klimt fills another square around a central mass.
Square composition
The gaze does not cross the garden: it circulates in the square
In a classic landscape, a path or horizon line often leads to a distance. Here, the depth is stopped by a narrow plant area parallel to the plane of the painting. The eye remains close to the flowers.
The square promotes circulation without exit. Not all sunflowers are centered: some approach the corners, others are truncated. Small, colorful flowers fill in the gaps and prevent a single plant from becoming the absolute subject.
Center is not empty
Several yellow masses respond to each other instead of building a single bouquet.
The edges remain active
The cut flowers transform the frame into an opening onto plant continuity.
The bottom is getting closer
Vegetation closes the space and enhances the tapestry effect.
A peasant garden, not a herbarium
What can we recognize among the flowers?
Contemporary sources and research cite sunflowers, auricles, phlox, carnations and zinnias. These identifications help to read diversity, but the table does not seek uniform botanical precision.
Sunflowers dominate with their height, their dark heart and the yellow crown which immediately cuts out their silhouette. Lower down, the small red, white, blue and pink flowers are rendered with shorter touches. Klimt therefore adapts the size of the gesture to that of the pattern.
Green is never just a fill color. It changes from deep green to yellow green and muffled purple. Leaves, stems and shadows become entangled until sometimes it is difficult to separate one plant from the next.
This controlled confusion produces the impression of abundance. From a distance, we receive a continuous colored field. Up close, we discover isolated flowers, then touches that no longer describe anything specific.
A harmony of contrasts
Yellow only works because it meets greens, reds and purples
Klimt does not paint a uniformly bright garden. It distributes very different intensities so that the large flowers advance and the foliage retains its depth.
The fragmented touch is reminiscent of pointillism, but Klimt does not apply regular optical division. The dots become commas, small impasto or larger spots. Recent research even highlights that pointillist flicker calms here in favor of more detailed and clearly hierarchical flowers.
Four floral solutions
Sunflower garden is not a repeated pattern
Between 1904 and 1908, Klimt used flowers to test very different relationships between figure, depth and decorative surface.
The Sunflower
A single plant stands in the center. Its leaves resemble a dress and bring together landscape and portrait exceptionally.
See reproduction →
Poppy field
The decrease in flowers and the growth of trees forward create a more continuous depth than in the sunflower garden.
See reproduction →
Country garden
Flowers organize into more readable rising masses. Klimt clarifies the structure instead of distributing the profusion everywhere.
See reproduction →
Rose bushes under the trees
Roses emerge under a large tree mass. The space is deeper, but the canopy is already transforming the landscape into a continuous surface.
See reproduction →Litzlberg, 1906 -1908
From the observed garden to the exhibited work
Research from the Klimt Database places the painting in Klimt's last stay at the Bräuhof and in the preparation of the Kunstschau Wien of 1908.
First mention
A December press article already describes a "peasant garden" with ordinary sunflowers and flowers, superbly stylized.
Last summer at Bräuhof
Klimt stays one last time in Litzlberg. The motif was reportedly found near Anton Mayr's farm.
Finishing in the workshop
Like several landscapes, the painting is probably taken up and completed in the Viennese workshop.
Kunstschau Wien
The gardens and meadows are shown in the large exhibition environment designed around modern Viennese art.
This chronology explains the double dating encountered in publications. Some sources link the work to 1906, when it is described in the press; Belvedere and several catalogs remember 1907. It is therefore prudent to speak of an achievement around 1906 -1907. It is therefore prudent to speak of an achievement around 1906 -1907. It is therefore prudent to speak of an achievement around 1906 -1907. It is therefore prudent to speak of an achievement around 1906 -1907. It is therefore prudent to speak of an achievement around 1906 -1
See Klimt in Vienna
Belvedere allows you to measure the physical effect of square landscapes
The painting belongs to the Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere. Before a visit, check the hanging: the works can be moved, loaned or included in a temporary exhibition.
Reproductions and collections
Create a square garden wall
The square format allows you to combine several landscapes without imposing too strong a hierarchy. Alternate between a dense floral mass, plant architecture and a calmer tree.
Find the hand-painted reproduction formats and options available at Alpha Reproduction.
Documentation verified
Main sources
Klimt Database · floral mosaics
Context of Bräuhof, mention of 1906, floral species, pointillism and carpet effect.
Read the folder →Klimt Database · 1907 -1909
Last stay in Litzlberg, all-over framing, role of the viewfinder and comparison with The Sunflower.
View analysis →Belvedere· the original work
Year, technique, dimensions and presentation of the painting preserved in Vienna.
See the instructions →Wikimedia Commons · Belvedere file
High definition image, 3685 inventory, file dimensions and status.
View file →Visual credits: paintings by Gustav Klimt in the public domain and Alpha Reproduction reproductions; photographs of Belvedere via Wikimedia Commons according to the licenses indicated on each file. The ten images of the body use ten distinct addresses.
Frequently asked questions
The sunflower garden in eight answers
When did Klimt paint this sunflower garden?
The Belvedere dates it from 1907. A press description dating from December 1906 explains that some publications use 1906 or 1906 -1907.
Where is the painting kept?
At the Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere, in Vienna, under inventory number 3685.
What are its dimensions?
The canvas measures 110 × 110 cm. This large square produces a very enveloping presence.
Where did Klimt find the motive?
Research links it to the surroundings of the Bräuhof in Litzlberg, probably near Anton Mayr's farm on the Attersee.
Why can't we see sky or horizon?
Klimt tightens the framing on the vegetation. The composition is closed by a narrow plane parallel to the canvas and functions like a floral tapestry.
What flowers are represented?
Sunflowers, auricles, phlox, carnations and zinnias are notably cited. The exact identification of each key, however, remains uncertain.
Is the table pointillist?
It uses the juxtaposition of small colored touches without following a regular scientific method. The large flowers are more detailed than the background.
How to frame a reproduction?
Dark wood, natural oak or patinated bronze balances profusion well. A very busy setting risks competing with floral richness.
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