Zoom Into Klimt's Painting 'After the Rain'

In the years just before 1900, Klimt discovered the landscape as a motif. His regular summer stays in the countryside served as an important source of inspiration. These stays were always spent in the company of Klimt's life partner Emilie Flöge and her family.

Klimt and the Flöge family spent their first summer stay together in 1898 in Sankt Agatha on the Hallstättersee, located in Salzkammergut in Upper Austria. At this place the view of a meadow with fruit trees was created, brought to life by a flock of chickens looking for food.

The fruit trees are staggered one behind the other, and the white shapes of the poultry growing smaller as they move upward create the impression of continuously unfolding depth. The unusual height of the painting and narrow picture format also contribute to this sense of depth.

Klimt uses a peculiarly soft and pastel-like painting method. As a result, the contours are blurred and the landscape appears as if through a foggy haze. The painter succeeds in expertly marking the effects of light and shadow through this technique.

In the design of the trees, Klimt hints at a technique that he would later refine over the following years: the technique of pointillism.

He outlines the treetops with fine dots, which blur together in the eyes of the viewer to create an ambience flooded with light.