The Klimt Villa in Vienna

Gustav Klimt in the Garden of his Studio at Number 21 Josefstädter Straße. This garden pavilion, belonging to a townhouse built around 1709, was demolished in 1912. Gustav Klimt was given notice of termination a year before and had to start looking for a new workplace. After the scandal surrounding the Faculty Paintings, he sought a quiet, secluded refuge, in which he could progress his work without any interruptions.

His search for a new workplace led Gustav Klimt to number 11 Feldmühlgasse in Vienna's Hietzing district. He rented a ground-floor building there, which was built around 1850 and greatly resembled his studio on Josefstädter Straße. The scandals of previous years, such as those surrounding the Faculty Paintings, had taken their toll. So he hoped he would be able to find peace in his new studio on the outskirts of Vienna, and to escape the public eye. The extensive gardens surrounding the Biedermeier-style house were intended to help him in his quest for peace. From 1911 until his death in 1918, he used the enchanting summer house as a studio. Around a fifth of Klimt's works were created here in his late style. This photograph of the building was taken by Moritz Nähr in 1918 after the death of Gustav Klimt.

Gustav Klimt was already very familiar with the district of Hietzing, which is home to Schönbrunn Palace, and was very rural at the time Time and again, he and his friends made the then very popular excursion to Tivoli, which was located very close to Schönbrunn. Even after he had moved into the studio on Feldmühlgasse, he sought peace at Tivoli from his many visitors and admirers.

This photograph shows Gustav Klimt—probably in 1916—attending a feast at the country home of the Primavesi family, in what is today the Czech Republic.

The Hietzing district was already a very prosperous district even then. For Gustav Klimt, the advantage was that his workplace was now closely surrounded by his clients. The Viennese villa belonging to the Primavesi banking family, for instance, was extremely close by. Gustav Klimt often socialized with the Primavesi family, and others, who commissioned his works.

In addition to the photograph of the exterior of the studio on Feldmühlgasse, Moritz Nähr took two photographs of the interior, which have been preserved.

The first of these interior shots shows Gustav Klimt's lobby. Most of the furniture was taken from his previous studio. The box, the table, and the chairs were designed by Josef Hoffmann and made by the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshops). The Backhausen carpet was also designed by Josef Hoffmann.

The second interior shot of Klimt's studio shows his actual work room. The central feature of this north-facing room is the large window that Klimt had installed. It gave him the optimum amount of daylight for his work. Two of his last pieces of work are visible on the easels. Dame mit Fächer (Lady with Fan)—shown on the right—was completed, while Die Braut (The Bride)—shown in the center—remained unfinished.

Around four years after the death of Gustav Klimt, the Hermann family, who owned the summer house studio, started to extend it into a villa. Even before the new building was completed, the entire property was acquired by Ernestine Werner (married name Klein). The neo-baroque-style construction was completed in 1923. Aside from a few minor changes, the actual studio building was integrated into the ground floor of the new villa. Whether this was done out of respect for Gustav Klimt, or for pragmatic reasons is not known.

Since they were Jewish, the Klein family was persecuted by the Nazis, and the villa was expropriated. The family managed to escape the country. After 1948, they were given part of the plot of land and the villa was restituted. A few years later, the family sold the villa to the Republic of Austria. A school was then later established in the villa. After the school moved out and there was a recession, plans to either sell or demolish the villa came to light in the late 1990s. A citizens' initiative—later named the Klimt Verein (Klimt Association)—was then set up to fight for its preservation. To better convey their concerns to the public, the initiative developed the still commonly used, but historically incorrect term "Klimt Villa".

In 2017, 100 years after the death of Gustav Klimt, partial reconstruction of the historic gardens began. The gardens were planted with perennials and flowers that Klimt liked to paint. In total, 162 rose bushes of various varieties, 19 flowering and non-flowering shrubs, 271 flowering perennials, a multi-stemmed birch, and more than 1,600 bulbs were planted.

Two surviving rose bushes from Gustav Klimt's original garden were successfully recultivated over several years thanks to the work of "gardening legend", Professor Herbert Eipeldauer. The two original Klimt roses—now over 100 years old—are joined by 22 recultivated bushes to form the centerpiece of a Obstgarten mit Rosen und Blumenwiese (Fruit Garden with Roses and Flower Meadow), immortalized by Klimt in the painting of the same name.