Landscapes of Salzkammergut and Viennese modernity · 1900 -1916

Lake, gardens, farms and villages become vibrant surfaces for Gustav Klimt where the landscape of the Attersee approaches abstraction without losing its sensitive presence.

From 1900, Gustav Klimt stayed almost every summer around the Attersee, in Salzkammergut, with the Flöge family. Far from the portraits and monumental commissions of Vienna, the painter constructed a set of square landscapes which is among the most radical research of his work. In Attersee, painted in 1900, water occupies almost the entire field. The high horizon, the fragmented touch and the variations of blue reduce the depth to the point of bordering on abstraction. Klimt then explores the banks, orchards, farms and Kammer Castle from different points of view. He then explores the banks, orchards, farms and Kammer Castle from different points of view. He then explores the banks, orchards, farms and Kammer Castle from different points of view. He then explores the banks, orchards, farms and Kammer Castle from different points of view. He then explores the banks, orchards, farms and Kammer Castle from different points of view. He then explores the banks, orchards, farms and Kammer Castle from different points of view. He then explores the banks, orchards, farms and Kammer Castle from different points of view. He then explores the banks, orchards, farms and Kammer Castle from different points of view. He then compress the plans and remove the usual transitions from the landscape. The houses of Unterach, the church and the facades of the castle thus appear embedded in a plant mosaic. The square format reinforces the decorative autonomy of each surface, while the juxtaposed touches recall neo-impressionism without strictly following the scientific method. The reflections do not only describe water: they dissolve the boundaries between shore, architecture and sky. These paintings, created during the holidays but taken up with great rigor, show that the decorative at Klimt is a way of reorganizing perception. The Attersee becomes a laboratory of color, of framing and flatness which accompanies all its maturity. The selection "Attersee seen by Gustav Klimt" notably compares Attersee - Gustav Klimt and Château Kammer to Attersee III (Schloss Kammer am Attersee III) - Gustav Klimt. His reading favors drawing.

On the Attersee, Klimt does not tell the story of the landscape: he brings water, foliage and architecture together until they vibrate on the same surface.