Forester's House in Weissenbach II (Garden)

In the summer of 1914, Gustav Klimt vacationed in Weissenbach, a village on the south eastern shore of the Attersee in the Salzkammergut lake region of Austria. Klimt lodged at the forester's house and painted it twice that year. In this bucolic picture, he reveled in the interplay between the open and closed windows, which offer tantalizing vignettes into the house and beyond. A lush blanket of ivy covers the façade. The overall green tenor of the painting is punctuated by vivid spots of color introduced through blooming flowers in the garden and the window boxes. Klimt's passionate zeal for nature sustained him, and he found succor from the stresses of daily life and the requests of demanding clients through immersion in nature's revitalizing bounty.