Schloss by the Water

Water Castle
Year1900s
Dimensions110 cm (43 in) × 100 cm (39 in)
AccessionO 4103 Edit this on Wikidata

Schloss by the Water or Schloss Kammer on the Attersee I (German: Schloss Kammer am Attersee I or Wasserschloss) is a 1908 oil on canvas painting by Gustav Klimt at display in the National Gallery Prague. It depicts a view of the Austrian Kammer Castle (Schloss Kammer) as seen from the Attersee.

Description

While many sources describe the work as a square canvas,[1][2][3] the National Gallery Prague gives its dimensions as approximately 110 cm × 100 cm.[4]

It is the first of four oil on canvas paintings in a series created in 1908–'10 during a summer holiday at the Villa Oleander at Schörfling am Attersee.[5] Klimt and the Flöge family rented the village from the Kammer Castle's owner, Countess Khevenhüller.[6]

The work reflects a change in Klimt's painting, with a stronger composition than previously and the painting's strictly parallel structure.[5] He chose a viewpoint from the quay by the villa,[5] from which the Castle's cubic facade could be seen behind the lake's reflective surface through the tall pyramidal poplars. Using a self-invented cardboard 'viewfinder', a telescope and opera glasses, he also dissected the visible landscape into separate areas before rearranging them into separated planes of lake and shore – the church bell tower looks close to the Castle but is in reality about 800 metres away by water in Seewalchen. The lack of shadows, the horizon line right at the top of the painting, the reflection and the limited palette of white, ochre, and green,[5] allowed him to flatten the image but still portray the landscape in a realistic-illusionistic fashion.

Provenance

Reviews called it "the main and most brilliant work" at the 1909 Vienna Art Exhibition, where it was first exhibited.[6] It was exhibited the following year at the Union of Czech-German Artists in Prague, from which it was acquired by its current owner, the National Gallery Prague.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hodge, Susie (2014). Masterpieces of Art: Gustav Klimt. Fulham, London: Flame Tree Publishing. p. 79. ISBN 978-1-80417-706-8.
  2. ↑ Dobai, Johannes (1988). Gustav Klimt: Landscapes. Translated by Osers, Ewald (1st ed.). Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 88. ISBN 9780297793854.
  3. ↑ Gurney, Tom (14 October 2023). "Water Castle". www.thehistoryofart.org. Retrieved 21 September 2025.
  4. ↑ lab.SNG (1908). "Gustav Klimt - Vodní zámek". Web umenia (in Czech). Retrieved 21 September 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 4 (in German) Tobias G. Natter . Die Landschaften: Eine re-konstruierte Natur // Gustav Klimt. Zeichnungen und Gemälde. - Köln: Taschen, 2019. - S. 395-396. - 663 S. - ISBN 978-3-8365-6287-4
  6. 1 2 (in German) Agnes Husslein-Arco, Alfred Weidinger (ed.s). Gustav Klimt im Belvedere Vergangenheit und Gegenwart // Gustav Klimt 150 Jahre / [anlässlich der Jubiläumsausstellung 150 Jahre Gustav Klimt, Belvedere, Wien, 13. Juli 2012 bis 6. Jänner 2013]. - Wien: Belvedere, 2012. - S. 218-223. - 359 S. - ISBN 978-3-901508-92-9 .
  7. ↑ (in German) "Klimt Foundation: Die erste Darstellung von Schloss Kammer". Archived from the original on 5 October 2022.
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