Gustav Klimt – The Park

The Park is one of Klimt’s square landscapes, painted in 1910 or earlier: a dense wall of treetops fills almost the whole canvas, dabbed in dozens of greens, and only a narrow strip at the bottom shows tree trunks, a hedge and a light lawn. The original belongs to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. 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.

The Park – Gustav Klimt

What does the painting show?

Almost the whole square is foliage. Klimt fills the canvas from the top edge down to about the last tenth with the crowns of trees, painted as thousands of small dabs of green – dark bottle green, moss, olive and lime – with flecks of blue, yellow and violet in between. There is no sky at all, no horizon and no single tree you could pick out.

Only at the very bottom does the painting open up: a row of thin trunks, a dark hedge and a strip of light lawn, as if you were standing at the edge of a park and looking up into a wall of leaves. A few taller trunks stand in front of the rest. Up close the surface is almost abstract, a field of colour; from across the room it turns back into trees.

Why is The Park almost all treetops?

Klimt painted his landscapes on square canvases and liked to cut the view so that one thing fills it completely – here, the foliage. Leaving out the sky takes away the depth, so the surface reads as a pattern, much like the gold backgrounds of his portraits from the same years. This flat, close-up way of looking is what makes his landscapes feel modern even today.

He painted his square landscapes during summer stays away from Vienna. Whereas in the portraits it is gold that carries the decoration, in the landscapes it is the brushstroke itself: every leaf a small touch of colour placed next to the next one. In The Park the idea is pushed so far that the trees almost dissolve into colour.

What does the painting mean?

The Park does not tell a story; it holds a mood. There are no figures, no paths and no buildings – only the green mass of a park in summer and the light that falls into it. Many people read it as a moment of calm, the feeling of standing under trees on a warm day and hearing nothing but leaves.

For a home, that is exactly its strength. It brings nature indoors without a scene you have to keep looking at, and green is restful for the eyes. Because the surface is made of small dabs, the painting also changes with the light of the day: brighter and almost yellow in the morning sun, deep and cool in the evening.

Where is the original, and how did it get there?

The original belongs to The Museum of Modern Art in New York, which bought it in 1957 through the Gertrud A. Mellon Fund. Before that the painting stayed with Klimt in Vienna and then with Emilie Flöge, his companion. The museum dates it “1910 or earlier”, without a more precise year, and that is how we give the date too.

The canvas measures 110.4 x 110.4 cm, the square format Klimt used for his landscapes. A short overview of the painting and its history is on Wikipedia. For a buyer the important point is simple: the original is a museum piece in New York, and the version on your wall is painted for you, by hand, at the size you choose.

The Park among Klimt’s landscapes

The Park belongs to a group of square landscapes you will find in our gallery. Poppy Field opens a summer meadow out into red and green, Flower Garden fills the square with a bed of bright flowers, and Farm Garden with Sunflowers sets tall sunflowers among the blooms. Apple Tree I shows a single fruit tree in the same square format.

Choose The Park if you want the calmest of these: almost one colour, no bright blossoms, a surface that rests the eye. The flower paintings are livelier and more cheerful; The Park is quieter and looks more modern, closer to an abstract field of colour. It suits rooms with natural wood, white walls or green plants, and it sits well next to a sofa in grey, beige or green.

How do we paint The Park by hand?

The painter starts by laying in the darkest greens over the whole upper part of the canvas, so that the foliage has depth from the very beginning. Over that come layer after layer of small dabs in lighter greens, and then the flecks of blue, yellow and violet that make the leaves shimmer. The trunks, the hedge and the strip of lawn at the bottom are painted last, with a finer brush.

Because the whole surface is built from thousands of separate touches, this is slow work, and the relief of the paint is what makes the painting come alive in daylight. A printed oil painting reproduction cannot show that relief: on a print the dabs become flat dots. Every painting is a hand-painted copy made for your order, so no two are ever quite the same.

There is no gold in this work, so we paint it in oil colours only, as Klimt did. If you would like the greens a little warmer or cooler to match your room, tell us when you order and the painter will take it into account.

Which size for which wall?

Short answer: 90 x 90 cm above a sofa or bed, 70 x 70 cm above a chest of drawers or in a smaller room, and 120 x 120 cm for a large wall. The original is a little over one metre square, so 110 x 110 cm is the size Klimt himself painted.

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 Park has no single centre, it gains from size: the larger it is, the more it feels like a window onto trees. In a small room even 60 x 60 cm works, as a calm green accent above a desk or in a hallway. A painting for the living room should take up about two thirds of the width of the furniture below it; above a sofa 140 cm wide, that is 90 x 90 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. With so much green, a narrow natural-wood frame or a simple dark one keeps the attention on the foliage, while a gold frame makes it more festive.

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 of The Park by Klimt?

The original belongs to The Museum of Modern Art in New York, which bought it in 1957 through the Gertrud A. Mellon Fund. The museum dates it 1910 or earlier, and the canvas measures 110.4 x 110.4 cm. Before it went to New York, the painting stayed with Klimt in Vienna and later with Emilie Flöge, his companion.

What does The Park by Klimt show?

It shows the crowns of trees in a park, so dense that they fill almost the whole square canvas. Klimt painted them as thousands of small dabs of green with flecks of blue, yellow and violet. Only a narrow strip at the bottom shows tree trunks, a dark hedge and a light lawn, and there is no sky at all.

When was The Park painted?

The Museum of Modern Art dates The Park as 1910 or earlier, without a more precise year. It belongs to the years when Klimt painted his square landscapes during summer stays away from Vienna, at the same time as his golden portraits. We give the date exactly as the museum does, because no single year is confirmed.

Why is there no sky in The Park?

Klimt cut the view so that the treetops fill the square almost to the top edge. Without sky and horizon there is no depth to look into, and the surface reads as a pattern of colour, much like the gold backgrounds of his portraits. That close, flat way of seeing is what makes The Park look so modern today.

Is The Park an abstract painting?

No, The Park shows real trees, trunks and a lawn, but up close it comes very near to abstraction. The foliage is a field of small coloured dabs with no single tree to pick out, so from a short distance you see colour, and from across the room you see a park. That double effect is why many people love it.

Which size of The Park is right for my wall?

For most walls a middle size is right. Above a sofa or bed 90 x 90 cm is a good choice, in a smaller room or above a chest of drawers 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.

Which room does The Park suit?

The Park suits any room where you want calm: a living room, a bedroom, a study or a dining room. Its many greens go well with natural wood, white or beige walls and green plants. Because it has no strong focal point, it never dominates a room, and as a canvas painting it brings a piece of nature indoors all year round.

How do I look after The Park on canvas?

Hang The Park out of direct sunlight and away from radiators, so that the oil colours and the canvas stay stable. Dust it now and then with a soft, dry brush or cloth, never with water or cleaning products. Oil paint is durable, so with this simple care the painting keeps its fresh greens for decades.

Is The Park a good gift?

Yes, The Park is an easy painting to give, because its greens fit almost any interior and it is calm rather than personal. It suits a new home, a housewarming or someone who loves gardens and nature. If you are unsure of the size, choose a middle size such as 80 x 80 cm, or give a voucher so they can choose for themselves.

• Subject: the treetops of a park in summer filling a square canvas, almost without sky.
• Original: 1910 or earlier, oil on canvas, 110.4 x 110.4 cm, The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• Ours: a Klimt reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in eight square sizes or made to measure.
• Worth knowing: you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.