Farmhouse in Buchberg (Upper Austrian Farmhouse)

Klimt made use of a visual technique strikingly reminiscent of French pointillism especially for his landscapes. In the years around 1900, French and Belgian pointillist works were regularly exhibited in the Vienna Secession. Under these influences, Klimt developed a highly individual variant of pointillism. In contrast to the French and Belgian artists, Klimt did not dissolve all motifs in a uniform mesh of dabs of color. He instead used this technique to highlight succinct motifs, such as treetrunks and fruits. For Klimt, the dabs of color do not contribute toward color synthesis following strict methodology—as with his fellow French and Belgian painters—but achieve the effect of a small-scale irregular mosaic. The fact that Klimt barely used pointillism for portraits and symbolist paintings but more for landscapes instead is significant. In this painting of a farmhouse in Buchberg on the Attersee, Klimt strengthens the effect of a flat mosaic by hermetically sealing the view of the house with wide fruit treetops, thereby taking away any distant views of the landscape and sky. By deliberately avoiding space and shadows, the motifs lose any sense of three-dimensionality and give the impression of two-dimensional flat patterns.