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What the painting shows
Garden Path with Chickens by Klimt presents a narrow light-toned walkway cutting through dense flower beds toward a garden trellis and bench in the background. Two domestic birds stand along the path, with a darker brown chicken in the foreground facing left and a second bird positioned farther in the distance.
Tight clusters of round blossoms, broad leaves, and tall flower stalks frame both sides of the trail. The plants rise in dense columns that fill the left, right, and upper edges of the square composition. Klimt built the foliage with layered, mosaic-like dabs of paint, creating a textured surface where individual petals and leaves crowd against one another.
The story behind it
Klimt painted the canvas in 1917, working in oil on a square canvas measuring 110 by 110 centimeters. The piece is also known under the titles Garden with Roosters and Garten mit Hühnern.
The painting belongs to Klimt’s group of landscapes and sits within his wider exploration of flowers and gardens. Like many of his outdoor scenes from this period, it uses a high horizon and a square format to turn a simple rural setting into a decorative field of patterns.
What happened to it
The original canvas of Garden Path with Chickens was destroyed. Only photographs remain to record how Klimt arranged the path, birds, and surrounding plants.
Questions about Garden Path with Chickens
What happened to Garden Path with Chickens by Klimt?
Garden Path with Chickens by Gustav Klimt was destroyed. Because the original oil painting no longer exists, art historians and viewers know the 1917 work entirely through surviving photographic documentation. The loss places it among several missing works from Klimt's late career.
When did Klimt paint Garden Path with Chickens?
Gustav Klimt painted Garden Path with Chickens in 1917, during the final period of his life. Completed as an oil on canvas measuring 110 by 110 centimeters, the work is also recorded under the titles Garten mit Hühnern and Garden with Roosters.
