What the painting shows

Park at Schloss Kammer by Klimt divides into two equal horizontal zones across a square canvas. The lower half shows the calm surface of a pond, painted in cool greens, blues, and turquoise. Yellow and pale green dabs float across the water, marking reflections or lily pads that drift toward the viewer. The brushwork in the water remains soft and blended, giving the pool a smooth, deep appearance.

A narrow strip of pale green grass and reeds runs along the far edge of the pond. Just behind this bank rises a dense wall of foliage that fills the entire upper half of the canvas. Klimt built this thick hedge out of thousands of tiny, pointillist flecks of deep green, blue, yellow, and white paint.

Toward the right side of the grove, a solitary tree trunk rises through the greenery. Its bark is mottled with dark patches and pale gray tones, and its upper branches stretch toward the top edge. There is no visible sky or horizon behind the trees. The tight wall of leaves closes off the background and holds your focus entirely on the interplay of foliage and water.

The story behind it

Klimt painted Park at Schloss Kammer, also known as Park at Kammer Castle, in 1909. The oil on canvas painting forms part of the artist’s celebrated landscapes created during his regular summer visits to the Salzkammergut region.

This work belongs to the wider group of Klimt’s landscapes and the Attersee, where the painter returned year after year to observe local gardens, manor grounds, and water surfaces. Klimt chose a square format of 110 by 110 centimeters for the composition, balancing the flat plane of the pond against the textured mosaic of the park trees.

Where to see it

Park at Schloss Kammer is in the collection of the Neue Galerie in New York.