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The Magic Kaleidoscope
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Gustav Klimt
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Commentators have registered surprise at the fact that Klimt - the
studio painter who drew any number of studies before executing a
portrait or an allegorical picture - apparently painted his
landscapes out of doors, on the spot, without any preliminary
drawing. It seems that he may have seen an opportunity in landscape
painting for meditation and tranquillity, in rather the same way as
Renoir found relaxation in painting flowers with what remained of
the paints he had used for his life studies. Klimt regularly spent
the summer months by the Attersee, enjoying the summer environment
favoured by the Floge family. He is not known to have painted any
winter landscapes. The environs of the Attersee became something
like a "holiday task", and his 230 canvases include 54 landscapes.
Of his several thousand preliminary sketches, only three are for
landscapes.
Schloss Kammer on the Attersee I or
III, also known as Castle on the
Water, had a particular fascination for
him; it enabled him to study the problem of integrating an
architectural element into the landscape, that is to say of
integrating a man-made element into nature. The third element is
water. In order to paint in peace, without interruption, he used a
rowing boat, as did Monet, setting up his easel in the middle of the
lake. The Church in Cassone represents a further
development, the architectural element tending strongly towards Cubism. There are still no human beings, but there are cypresses
- familiar graveyard symbols of death because of their supposed
power to hinder the decomposition of the human body.
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Schloss Kammer on the Attersee I
1908
In the paintings of Schloss Kammer, Klimt studied the problem of incorporating
architectonic elements in a landscape, that is to say mankind's
impingement on natural surroundings and the resulting effects. Like
Monet, Klimt used a rowing boat and set up his easel in the middle
of the lake.
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Schloss Kammer on the Attersee III
1910
Klimt's landscapes
gradually evolved from the tapestry or mosaic style to compositions
which reflected emergent Cubism. The localities become more urban,
incorporating architecture and linking water, vegetation and
buildings. Only people are excluded.
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The Church in Cassone
1913
Vegetation, architecture and water were
the three elements which Klimt liked to combine in his last
landscapes, ultimately an expression of his search for balance and
harmony between these different elements. In order to achieve an
even closer link, the pictures became almost monochrome, and the
structures show the influence of Cubism.
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Casa de labranza de la Alta
Austria
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Sunflower
1906
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Poppy Field
1907
Klimt liked to paint his landscapes while on holiday, without
preliminary studies, rather in the way that Renoir liked
to paint
flowers with the paints left over from his life studies as a means
of relaxation.
Klimt's landscapes are in a sense his holiday taskes.
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Apple Tree I
1912
Unlike the portraits or the allegorical compositions, the landscape
paintings -
which sold very well - were painted for contemplative
pleasure, relaxation and meditation.
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Farm Garden with Crucifix
1911
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Garden Path with Chickens
1916
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It is somewhat surprising that he, the colourist, gradually gave up
his customary bright colours in his late landscapes of 1915 to 1918
in favour of more sombre monochrome effects. No trace of this muted
atmosphere is to be found in his portraits or in his other studio
paintings, it is confined to the landscapes, which in all
probability are a more faithful reflection of his private life. The
sombre atmosphere may well be a reaction to the outbreak of the
First World War in the summer of 1914 and to the death of his mother
in 1915.
The war marked the end of the great cultural flowering of Vienna,
the end of an epoch, a century. What remains of Klimt's contribution
to this epoch; what is the significance of his work for posterity?
First, that he helped as charismatic leader of the Secession to gain
international significance and recognition for Austrian painters.
Then, that he established certain constant factors in his own
paintings: square format, diagonal composition, asymmetrical
construction, geometrical stylisation, setting of the subject in
mosaics, backgrounds in gold and silver leaf... and erotic power.
Above all, that he was one of the first to succeed in combining
figurative with abstract painting, if one regards the wealth of
motifs surrounding his figures not merely as decorative, but as an
abstract, autonomous irreality which contributes to the distinctive
quality of the faces. Finally, that there is a radical departure in
his landscapes from the Impressionists and also from van Gogh - with whom he has
sometimes been compared - in the density and profusion of plants,
flowers and trees, in the complete absence of human beings, in the
almost complete disappearance of horizon and sky, in the innumerable
tiny points without any true resemblance to Pointillism, and in the
exceptional richness of colour in his palette...
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On all of this, which amounts to a considerable achievement and
which would continue to be important to artists and art in a variety
of ways, Klimt commented on with modesty:
"I can paint and draw. I
believe that myself, and some other people say they believe it. But
I am not entirely certain that it is true. Two things alone are
certain:
1. No self-portrait of me exists. I am not interested in myself as
material for a picture, but rather in other people, especially
women, and even more in other phenomena. I am convinced that as a
person I am not especially interesting. There's nothing remarkable
to be seen in me. I am a painter, one who paints every day from
morning till evening. Figures, landscapes, occasionally portraits.
2. Words, spoken or written, do not come easily to me, especially
when I'm supposed to be saying something about myself or my work. If
I have to write a simple letter I get just as scared as if I was
going to be sea-sick.
So people will just have to do without an artistic or literary
self-portrait - which is just as well. Anyone who wants to find out
about me - as an artist, which is all that's of interest - should
look attentively at my pictures and try to learn from them what I am
and what I want."
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Rose Bushes Under the Trees
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Avenue in Schloss Kammer Park |
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Malcesine on Lake Garda
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