What the painting shows

Island in the Attersee by Gustav Klimt presents an expansive view of shimmering lake water painted in oil on canvas. Klimt positions the horizon line extremely high, so that almost the entire square canvas consists of water. Tiny horizontal flecks of turquoise, mint green, soft yellow, and touches of pale pink capture the gentle movement of the lake surface. Toward the top edge, a pale band of water catches bright light, creating a glowing strip across the composition.

A small, dark island covered in dense green and brown foliage sits pushed into the upper right corner. Its dark form casts a soft, blurred reflection down into the water below. A thin band of misty, purple-gray hillside runs along the far shore at the very top. There is no sky visible, no boats, and no figures. Klimt concentrates your attention on the flat, decorative pattern of ripples across the lake.

The story behind it

Klimt painted Island in the Attersee, also known as Insel im Attersee or Island in Lake Attersee, between 1901 and 1902. He created the work during his regular summer stays at Lake Attersee in the Salzkammergut region of Austria, where he began painting en plein air in 1898. To learn more about this period in his career, read our guide to Klimt’s landscapes and the Attersee.

This painting represents an early example of Klimt using the square canvas format that later became a trademark of his work. It measures 100.5 by 100.5 cm. Between 1900 and 1902, Klimt produced two paintings of this exact view. The companion work, his 1900 painting Attersee, hangs in Vienna’s Leopold Museum. Art critics have compared Island in the Attersee to works by French Impressionist Claude Monet because of the similar way both painters captured the movement of light across open water.

The painting also carries a painful history tied to the Holocaust. It belonged to Paul and Irene Hellmann, an Austrian Jewish couple who faced Nazi persecution. Irene Hellmann was murdered in Auschwitz in 1944, and their son, Bernhard, was murdered in Sobibor in 1943. Gallery owner Otto Kallir later acquired the work and included it in his landmark 1940 exhibition Saved from Europe at Galerie St. Etienne in New York City. That exhibition introduced Klimt’s work to North American audiences.

Where to see it

Island in the Attersee is currently held in a private collection, so it is rarely on public view. In May 2023, the painting was sold from the Otto Kallir collection at a Sotheby’s auction in New York City. You can still explore the artist’s natural motifs through our collection of landscapes or browse our selection of Attersee paintings to view related lake scenes.

Choosing a print

Prints of Island in the Attersee are printed and shipped by ArtsyWall in three formats:

• Premium Canvas: The woven texture of the canvas brings out the oil paint feel of Klimt’s water ripples. The artwork wraps neatly around the edges, making it ideal if you prefer a clean, frameless look.
• Framed Canvas: A wooden floating frame creates a crisp boundary around the water. Frame finishes such as walnut, oak, gold, silver, black, or white allow you to match the subtle yellow and green tones of the lake to your room.
• Archival Paper: Fine art cotton paper emphasizes the delicate dabs of turquoise, mint, and pale pink, offering a smooth finish that works well inside your own custom frame.