The artwork "On Lake Attersee" or simply Attersee. created by Gustav Klimt in 1900, is a significant piece in his body of work, particularly notable for its innovative and abstract approach to landscape painting.

Key Features

- The painting is characterized by its radical composition, where Klimt uses the entire canvas to depict the surface of the lake, primarily through turquoise spots that evoke the waves and reflections on the water.
- The use of turquoise speckles progressively shrinking towards the top of the painting creates an illusion of depth, a technique that was quite unusual for its time.
- The only clearly defined objects in the painting are the dark tree tops of the island of Litzlberg in the upper-right corner, which serve as a horizon point.

Artistic Significance

- This work marks one of Klimt's most ventures into abstract art within his landscape paintings. It combines elements of Impressionism and Expressionism with a geometric composition, reflecting Klimt's unique artistic vision.- The painting was first exhibited at the fifth Secession exhibition in 1901, where it received enthusiastic reviews from critics, including Ludwig Hevesi.

Context

- "On Lake Attersee" was painted during Klimt's first stay at the lake in the summer of 1900. Attersee became a recurring inspiration for Klimt, who visited the area every summer from the late 1890s until 1916 and produced around 40 landscape paintings there.

Provenance

- The painting has changed hands several times since its creation and is now part of the Leopold Museum's collection in Vienna.