Description
Garden Path with Chickens is a square garden painting by Gustav Klimt from 1916: a pale path runs up the middle between tall walls of hollyhocks in pink, white, red and dark violet, and two brown chickens walk along it, one close to us and one further up, towards a dark gate at the top. The original is recorded as destroyed by fire in 1945, so our version is painted after the surviving colour reproduction. 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 measurements, and you approve a photograph of the finished canvas before it ships.
| Title: | Garden Path with Chickens |
| Other titles: | Garden with Mallows and Chickens · Gartenweg mit Hühnern |
| Painter: | Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) |
| Year painted: | 1916 |
| Original size: | 110 cm x 110 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Vienna Secession, landscape |
| Located at: | Lost – burned in 1945 |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, eight square sizes or made to measure |
Garden Path with Chickens – Gustav Klimt
What does the painting show?
A narrow, pale garden path starts at the bottom edge of the canvas and climbs straight up the middle of the square. On both sides it is closed in by tall hollyhocks, also called mallows: round blossoms in pink, white, red and a deep, almost black violet, set among large grey-green leaves. The flowers are painted as a dense pattern of circles and patches, so the two borders look like walls of colour.
Two dark brown chickens walk on the path. One is close to us in the lower half, the other further up, smaller, as if heading home. At the top the path ends at a dark gate or fence. There is no sky; the whole square is garden, and the chickens give the scene its scale and a touch of everyday life.
What happened to the original in 1945?
Garden Path with Chickens is recorded as destroyed by fire in 1945. In May 1945 it burned at Schloss Immendorf in Lower Austria, where works of art had been stored during the war, together with other Klimt paintings, among them works from the Lederer collection such as Farm Garden with Crucifix.
What survives is a colour reproduction, and that is what we paint from. We say this openly: our version cannot be compared with the canvas itself, so it follows the composition and the colours of the reproduction as closely as we can, stroke by stroke.
Why does the garden path draw you in?
Because the path is a line that leads your eye straight into the painting. It begins at your feet, narrows as it climbs and disappears at the gate, so the flat square suddenly has depth. The flower borders on both sides frame that line like the walls of a corridor, and the chickens mark how far away each part of the path is.
The painting dates from 1916, two years before Klimt’s death, and belongs to his late gardens, in which the flowers become an almost abstract pattern of colour. Yet it stays homely: a farm garden on a summer day, chickens pecking along the path. That mix of ornament and ordinary life is what gives it its charm.
A painting known only from a reproduction
Because the original no longer exists, no museum can show it. It is listed with its date, size and fate in the list of Klimt’s paintings on Wikipedia, under its two names, Garden Path with Chickens and Garden with Mallows and Chickens. The canvas measured 110 by 110 cm.
A hand-painted version is therefore the only way to bring this garden back onto a wall in its original size. Our 110 x 110 cm size equals the lost canvas, and the smaller sizes keep its square format, so nothing is cut away.
Garden Path with Chickens among Klimt’s gardens
Klimt painted many flower gardens, and several of them are in our gallery. Farm Garden with Crucifix burned in the same fire in 1945, and Malcesine on Lake Garda has also been lost since that year. Farm Garden with Sunflowers sets tall sunflowers among a carpet of blossoms, and Flower Garden fills the whole square with colourful flowers.
Choose Garden Path with Chickens if you want a garden with a path to follow and a little life in it; if you prefer flowers alone, Flower Garden or Farm Garden with Sunflowers suits you better. More about Klimt himself is on Wikipedia’s Klimt page.
How do we paint the garden by hand?
The painter starts by marking the path and the two flower borders on the canvas, then lays in the large areas: the pale path, the grey-green leaves and the dark gate at the top. Next come the blossoms, built up one by one from round dabs of pink, white, red and deep violet, with lighter touches where the sun catches the petals.
Last come the two chickens, their brown feathers and red combs, and the small details of the path. A printed oil painting reproduction would flatten all these dabs into one smooth surface; painted by hand, the blossoms keep their raised texture and catch the light. Each painting is a hand-painted copy made for one order, so every canvas is a little different.
There is no gold in this garden, and there is none in our version: we work with oil colours only.
Which size for which wall?
In short: 60 x 60 or 70 x 70 cm for a kitchen, a hallway or a small wall; 80 x 80 or 90 x 90 cm above a sideboard, a desk or a bed; 100 x 100 or 110 x 110 cm above a sofa or a dining table; 120 x 120 or 150 x 150 cm for a large wall. The 110 x 110 cm size is the size of the lost original.
All eight sizes are square, like Klimt’s canvas, so the path stays in the middle and nothing is cropped. Small sizes read as a bright patch of flowers; from 100 x 100 cm up, the path really seems to lead into the room. As a painting for the living room, 110 x 110 cm above a sofa gives the garden its full effect, and in a dining room or a country kitchen it adds summer to every meal.
Hang it so the centre of the canvas is around 150 to 160 cm from the floor; above furniture, a gap of 20 to 30 cm between furniture and canvas looks right. Above a sofa, aim for roughly two thirds of the sofa’s width.
Custom size, stretcher and frame
If your wall needs a different size, we paint the garden to measure; keep it square or nearly square so the path stays centred and the borders are not distorted. Write to us with the width and height and we will send you the price and the delivery time. Each canvas leaves us stretched on a wooden stretcher frame, ready for the wall.
For the frame, try our 3D application: it puts every one of our frame profiles on this motif, so you can see gold, silver, black, white and natural wood side by side – the application only helps you choose the frame. Seeing the painting on your own wall is a separate service, our room placement. A natural wood frame suits the country garden; a dark frame makes the pinks and whites of the flowers glow.
Delivery and guarantee
We paint every order in our studio, so the painting is ready in 15 to 45 days, depending on its size. We ship it stretched and well packed, framed if you chose a frame, to any EU country with no customs duties. You get a photograph of the finished painting to approve before shipping, and anything that is not right is corrected while the canvas is still with us. Our returns policy covers every order.
Not sure of the size for a gift? Our gift voucher lets the recipient choose. The Gustav Klimt gallery shows all our Klimt paintings, and the article 10 interesting facts about Gustav Klimt tells you more about the painter.
Frequently asked questions
Does the original Garden Path with Chickens still exist?
No. Garden Path with Chickens is recorded as destroyed by fire in 1945: in May of that year it burned at Schloss Immendorf in Lower Austria, together with other Klimt paintings stored there. Only a colour reproduction survives, and our hand-painted version is painted after that reproduction.
What does Klimt’s Garden Path with Chickens show?
It shows a pale garden path running up the middle of a square canvas between tall borders of hollyhocks in pink, white, red and dark violet, with large grey-green leaves. Two brown chickens walk on the path, one in front and one further up, and a dark gate closes the view at the top.
When did Klimt paint Garden Path with Chickens?
Klimt painted it in 1916, two years before his death, on a square canvas of 110 by 110 cm. It is one of his late garden paintings, in which the flowers turn into a dense, almost abstract pattern of colour while the scene itself stays a simple farm garden.
What flowers grow in Garden Path with Chickens?
The borders are hollyhocks, also called mallows, which is why the painting is also known as Garden with Mallows and Chickens. Klimt paints their round blossoms in pink, white, red and a deep violet, set among large grey-green leaves, so the two sides of the path look like walls of flowers.
How can you paint Garden Path with Chickens if the original burned?
We paint it after the surviving colour reproduction of the lost painting. Our painter follows its composition and colours as closely as possible, by hand and in oil on canvas. We say this openly, because no one can compare a copy with the burned canvas itself.
Which size of Garden Path with Chickens suits my wall?
For a kitchen, a hallway or a small wall choose 60 x 60 or 70 x 70 cm; above a sideboard or a bed 80 x 80 or 90 x 90 cm; above a sofa or a dining table 100 x 100 or 110 x 110 cm; for a large wall 120 x 120 or 150 x 150 cm. 110 x 110 cm equals the original.
Which room suits Garden Path with Chickens?
It suits a kitchen, a dining room, a living room or a country house, anywhere you want a summer garden on the wall. As a canvas painting full of pink, white and red flowers it brightens light walls, wooden furniture and linen, and it works well in a room that looks out onto a garden.
Is there gold in Garden Path with Chickens?
No. This is one of Klimt’s gardens without any gold: its glow comes from the pinks, whites and reds of the hollyhocks against the grey-green leaves and the pale path. We therefore paint our version with oil colours only, without gold paint, just as the original was painted.
Is Garden Path with Chickens a good gift?
Yes, especially for someone with a garden, a farmhouse or a love of flowers and country life. The square format fits almost any wall, and the subject is cheerful and easy to live with. If you are unsure of the size, choose 80 x 80 cm or give a voucher so the recipient can decide.
- Subject: a pale garden path between walls of pink, white, red and violet hollyhocks, with two brown chickens and a dark gate.
- Original: 1916, oil on canvas, 110 x 110 cm, destroyed by fire in 1945; painted after the surviving colour reproduction.
- Our version: a Klimt reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in eight square sizes or made to measure.
- Good to know: you approve a photograph of the finished painting before we ship it.
