Description
Flower Garden is Klimt’s close-up of a garden bed, painted around 1905–1907: orange, violet, red and white flowers fill the whole square, with no sky and no horizon. In 2017 it sold at Sotheby’s in London for 47.9 million pounds, at the time a record for a Klimt landscape. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas, in eight square sizes from 60 x 60 to 150 x 150 cm or to your own measurement, and send you a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.
| Title: | Flower Garden |
| Other titles: | Bauerngarten · Blumengarten · Giardino fiorito · Cvetlični vrt |
| Painter: | Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) |
| Year painted: | around 1905–1907 |
| Original size: | 110 cm x 110 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Vienna Secession, square landscape |
| Located at: | Private collection |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, eight square sizes or made to measure |
Flower Garden – Gustav Klimt
What does the painting show?
Klimt puts us right in front of a flower bed, so close that the flowers fill the whole square. There is no sky, no horizon, no path and no house – only blossoms and leaves. Tall white flowers rise at the top centre, a large mass of orange flowers spreads across the right, and between them sit round violet and purple heads, red and pink flowers, with a row of white, daisy-like flowers along the bottom.
Right in the middle glows a small patch of deep blue, and at the top the bed disappears into dark green, dotted foliage. Each flower is made of a few short, dense strokes, so close up the painting looks almost like embroidery, and from across the room like a colourful carpet. Klimt’s signature sits at the lower right.
Why did Flower Garden sell for 47.9 million pounds?
On 1 March 2017 the painting was offered at Sotheby’s in London and sold for 47.9 million pounds, roughly 59 million US dollars. At the time that was the highest sum ever paid for a Klimt landscape.
The price mainly tells you how highly Klimt’s landscapes are valued today. For you something else matters more: Flower Garden has no gold and no figures, only colour. That is why it can go where the famous golden Klimt would feel too formal – a kitchen, a dining room, a bedroom or a bright hallway.
What does the painting mean?
Flower Garden has no story to decode. Klimt does not paint a view of a garden but the garden itself: he cuts out a small piece of nature and enlarges it until it becomes a pattern. With no sky and no horizon, the eye has nowhere to escape and stays among the flowers.
In that sense it is close to his golden portraits, where dresses and backgrounds turn into surfaces of ornament. Here the ornament is made of flowers rather than gold. Many people simply see joy in it – summer and plenty – a painting that makes people smile without their needing to know anything about art.
Where did Klimt paint his gardens, and where is the painting now?
Klimt painted landscapes in summer, away from the city. His square landscapes were made during his summer stays at Lake Attersee in Upper Austria. The exact year of Flower Garden is not known: it was painted around 1905–1907, and Sotheby’s dated it to 1907.
Today the painting is in a private collection, so you will not find it in any museum. For an overview of Klimt’s works and where they are now, see the list of paintings by Gustav Klimt on Wikipedia. Since the original cannot be seen in a gallery, a version painted by hand is for many people the only way to have this garden on a wall at its real size.
Flower Garden among Klimt’s works
We also paint Farm Garden with Sunflowers, which is easy to confuse with Flower Garden because of its similar name. Both are square and both show a cottage garden, but in Farm Garden with Sunflowers tall sunflowers dominate and stand like a group of figures, while Flower Garden is one dense carpet of colourful blossoms without a single sunflower.
Choose Flower Garden if you want more colour and cheerfulness, and Farm Garden with Sunflowers if you prefer a calmer, greener, almost solemn subject. Klimt’s nature continues in Apple Tree I and in Tree of Life, which is already ornamental, with golden spirals. If you want Klimt with gold and figures, have a look at The Kiss as well.
How is our hand-painted Flower Garden made?
The painter first divides the canvas into large zones of colour: dark green at the top, the orange mass on the right, violet and red islands in the middle and a light band at the bottom. Only then are the flowers built up, one by one, with short strokes of thicker paint, so that each blossom has its own small relief.
Because everything in this painting lives in the brushstroke, the handwork shows here more than in almost any other Klimt. The paint on the flowers goes on in several layers, so that the white and orange spots glow against the darker leaves. Every painting is a hand-painted copy made for your order, so no two are ever quite the same.
A print shows the colours, but only our oil painting reproduction shows the relief of the strokes, which catches the light on Flower Garden and makes the flowers seem to grow out of the canvas.
Which size for which wall?
Short answer: 90 x 90 or 100 x 100 cm above a sofa or bed, 70 x 70 cm above a chest of drawers or in a dining room, and 120 x 120 cm for a large wall. The original measures 110 x 110 cm, so our 110 x 110 cm size is exactly as big as the painting Klimt made.
There are eight square sizes: 60 x 60, 70 x 70, 80 x 80, 90 x 90, 100 x 100, 110 x 110, 120 x 120 and 150 x 150 cm. Because the subject is so finely broken up, a bigger size has an advantage: at 110 x 110 or 120 x 120 cm you can make out single flowers from across the room. Even a small canvas keeps the strength of the colours, so 60 x 60 cm is a lovely choice for a kitchen, hallway or bedroom. A painting for the living room should take up about two thirds of the width of the furniture below it; above a sofa 150 cm wide, that is 100 x 100 cm.
Hang it with the centre of the canvas about 150 cm above the floor, and 20 to 30 cm above a sofa or a headboard.
Custom size, stretcher and frame
If none of the eight sizes fits your wall, we paint it to measure; it works best kept square, like the original. Send us the width and height you want and we will quote a price and a lead time. Every painting we make is stretched over a wooden stretcher and ready to hang.
For the moulding, use our 3D application: it shows every one of our frame profiles on this subject, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood before deciding – the application is for choosing the frame only. If you would like to see how the painting will look on your own wall, that is our separate room placement service. A slim white or natural wood frame suits the colourful flowers and gives them room; a slim gold frame brings out the warm orange tones.
Delivery and guarantee
Every painting is made to order in our studio in Slovenia, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size you choose. We ship it stretched and protected for transport, framed if you chose a frame, across the EU with no customs. Before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work to approve; if anything is not right, we correct it while the canvas is still in our workshop. Our returns policy applies to every order.
If it is a present and you do not know the right size, there is a wall art voucher. Every other Klimt work we paint is in the Gustav Klimt gallery, and there is more on the painter in our article ten interesting facts about Gustav Klimt.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original Flower Garden?
The original is in a private collection, so it is not on permanent display in any museum. The canvas measures 110 x 110 cm. It was sold at Sotheby’s in London on 1 March 2017 for 47.9 million pounds. There is more on the painter and his landscapes on Wikipedia.
What does Flower Garden show?
It shows a flower bed seen close up, filling the whole square with no sky and no horizon. Tall white flowers stand at the top, a large mass of orange ones on the right, violet, red and pink flowers in between, a row of white daisy-like flowers along the bottom and a small patch of deep blue in the centre. At the top the bed turns into dark green, dotted foliage.
How much did Flower Garden sell for?
It sold on 1 March 2017 at Sotheby’s in London for 47.9 million pounds, roughly 59 million US dollars. At the time that was a record for a Klimt landscape. Since then the painting has been in a private collection. With us you can have it painted by hand in oil on canvas, in eight sizes from 60 x 60 to 150 x 150 cm.
When was Flower Garden painted?
The exact year is not known: the painting dates from around 1905–1907, and Sotheby’s dated it to 1907. That is the time of Klimt’s Golden Period, when The Kiss was also made, but there is no gold in this landscape. Klimt painted his square landscapes during summer stays at Lake Attersee in Upper Austria.
What is the difference between Flower Garden and Farm Garden with Sunflowers?
They are two different Klimt paintings. In Farm Garden with Sunflowers tall sunflowers stand in the foreground; Flower Garden has no sunflowers at all, just one dense carpet of orange, violet, red and white blossoms. Both are square and we paint both in the same sizes, so you can also hang them as a pair, for example on either side of a window.
Why is there no sky in Flower Garden?
Because Klimt painted the bed from so close that the flowers fill the whole square. Without sky or horizon the painting does not work as a view but as a pattern or a fabric spread across the entire surface. This kind of crop is typical of his square landscapes, and it is why the painting looks like a colourful carpet on the wall.
Is your Flower Garden painted by hand or printed?
It is painted by hand, in oil on canvas, from the first stroke to the last. The painter builds every flower from a few short strokes, so the surface has a relief that a print does not have. That makes each canvas painting of ours one made for your order, and before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work to approve.
Which size of Flower Garden is right for my wall?
For most walls a middle size is right. Above a sofa or bed choose 90 x 90 or 100 x 100 cm, above a chest of drawers or in a dining room 70 x 70 cm, and for a large wall 120 x 120 cm. If you want the size of the original, choose 110 x 110 cm. A useful rule is about two thirds of the width of the furniture below.
Is Flower Garden a good gift?
Yes. Because it is cheerful and needs no explanation, it makes a good present for a new home, a birthday or a retirement. If you do not know the wall it will hang on, the safest choice is a middle size of 70 x 70 or 80 x 80 cm. You can also give a voucher and let the recipient choose the size and frame.
- Subject: a flower bed seen close up, orange, violet, red and white blossoms, no sky.
- Original: around 1905–1907, oil on canvas, 110 x 110 cm, private collection.
- Ours: a Klimt reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in eight sizes or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.
