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What the painting shows
Apple Tree II by Klimt is an oil-on-canvas landscape completed in 1916 by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt. The work depicts a solitary fruit tree against an open horizon and belongs to the collection of the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. Klimt painted several artworks depicting trees during his career, and this square composition places a single mature apple tree at the center of your view.
When you look at the canvas, the dome of the tree crown fills almost the entire upper half of the composition. Klimt built the foliage with thousands of small, rhythmic dabs of dark brown, blackish green, and deep violet. Dozens of round apples dot the dense branches. Most of these fruits show pale yellow and golden tones ringed with dark outlines, while a few reveal soft reddish accents.
Below the heavy canopy, a sturdy, upright trunk branches into strong limbs that hold up the crown. A slender secondary trunk or supporting stake rises directly beside it on the right. Klimt placed the base of the tree on an uneven slope painted in horizontal bands of dull green, sage, and pale earth tones. Behind the main tree, a line of thin, delicate saplings stretches across the low horizon against a pale, cloudy sky.
The sky itself consists of choppy, horizontal flecks of cool off-white, grey, and soft purple. Klimt created a tight, decorative surface where the background and the foliage press close to the picture plane. You can explore how this piece fits into his wider outdoor studies by browsing Klimt’s landscapes.
The story behind it
The original owner of Apple Tree II, also known as Apfelbaum II or Der Apfelbaum, was the Viennese Jewish art collector Serena Lederer. The Lederer family owned a large and important collection of Gustav Klimt paintings, including portraits of family members. Serena Lederer lent Apple Tree II to an art exhibition in 1926.
Following the 1938 Anschluss between Austria and Nazi Germany, the painting was documented as Lederer property before Nazi authorities seized many artworks owned by August and Serena Lederer. Serena Lederer died in 1943, and her children Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt and Erich Lederer are thought to have inherited the painting. Later, film director and Nazi party member Gustav Ucicky obtained Apple Tree II through unknown means.
In 1961, Ucicky donated Apple Tree II to the Belvedere Museum in Vienna. Decades later, in the 1990s, heirs of Nora Stiasny filed a claim for a Klimt landscape at the Belvedere, mistakenly believing their family had owned Apple Tree II. Both the Zuckerkandl-Stiasny and Lederer families were prominent Viennese Jewish patrons of Klimt whose collections were plundered under the Nazis. Klimt had painted portraits of figures from both households, including Serena Lederer and Nora Stiasny’s mother, Amalie Zuckerkandl.
In 2001, Austria’s Art Restitution Advisory Board restituted Apple Tree II to Nora Stiasny’s heir, Hermine Müller-Hofmann, in error. Müller-Hofmann’s nephew, Viktor Hoffmann, then sold the work to French collector Bernard Arnault. In 2015, Austria’s Commission for Provenance Research confirmed the misidentification: Nora Stiasny had actually owned Klimt’s Roses under the Trees, not Apple Tree II.
Roses under the Trees was held by the Musée d’Orsay in Paris under inventory number RF 1980-195. On March 15, 2021, France’s Minister of Culture announced the restitution of Roses under the Trees to the heirs of Nora Stiasny. Meanwhile, in 2018, Apple Tree II was pulled from an exhibition at the Leopold Museum when Austrian officials confirmed their earlier mistake and acknowledged Serena Lederer as the original owner. Austrian officials rejected the Lederer family’s demand to recover Apple Tree II, while the Lederer heirs have registered 64 search requests for Klimt works on the German Lost Art Foundation Lost Art Database. You can see how these historical works connect across our complete guide to paintings by Klimt.
Where to see it
You can find Apple Tree II in the collection of the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, France. The private museum displays modern and contemporary art alongside historic works from prominent collections.
Because institutional collections rotate their displays and lend works to outside exhibitions, the painting is not always on public view in the galleries. Check the current exhibition schedule with the Fondation Louis Vuitton before planning a visit to Paris to see Apple Tree II in person.
Details of Apple Tree II
Questions about Apple Tree II
What does Apple Tree II by Klimt show?
Apple Tree II by Klimt shows an apple tree laden with fruit standing on a grassy meadow. The rounded canopy of dark leaves fills most of the frame, punctuated by dozens of yellow and reddish apples. A row of small saplings lines the low horizon in the background beneath a pale, mottled sky.
When did Klimt paint Apple Tree II?
Gustav Klimt painted Apple Tree II in 1916, during the later period of his career. The artist produced several paintings centered on orchard trees and natural scenery around this time. Known in German as Apfelbaum II or Der Apfelbaum, the work was originally purchased by the Viennese collector Serena Lederer before entering public and private collections.
Where is Apple Tree II by Klimt?
Apple Tree II by Klimt is in the collection of the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. French collector Bernard Arnault acquired the oil painting after it had been restituted from Austria's Belvedere Museum in 2001. Because the museum rotates items from its permanent holdings, visitors should check with the institution to verify whether the canvas is currently on display.
