Gustav Klimt’s Beech Grove

Most people know of Gustav Klimt for his golden The Kiss painting. The problem (if you can call it that) with having one widely successful painting is that it tends to overshadow the rest of your work. And that’s a shame when it comes to artists like Klimt, as he had quite an extensive and diverse portfolio. Below is one of his landscapes that I’m particularly fond of, Beech Grove. Let’s take a closer look.

Here are a few key observations about the painting:

• This painting is a perfect demonstration of taking an idea and really pushing in that direction. You can really feel the character and overwhelming presence of the forest. Would the idea and message be as powerful if he had depicted the forest from a distant vantage point, with the trees appearing as simple masses? Or from a close-up perspective, focusing only on the bark and details of a single tree? Probably not. Vincent van Gogh was also good at this—being able to narrow in on the essence of the subject and push that idea.
• Pattern and repetition play a strong role. There’s an almost musical quality in the way our eyes dance between the trees, the gaps between them, and the sky.
• The sky adds a sense of depth to the painting and a few bursts of contrast. It also creates a broken diagonal line where the sky meets the land. Diagonal lines and curves tend to appear more interesting in a painting compared to completely horizontal lines, which can appear flat and static.
• Klimt used broken color to create the illusion of detail and activity. Look at the close-ups below and notice all the tiny dabs of orange, blue, and green woven together as a patchwork. Up close, it appears as nothing but an abstract mess. But it all makes sense from afar. I love this approach to painting—one that doesn’t try to hide the fact it’s a painting whilst maintaining a sense of realism.

Thanks for reading! If you want to explore other beautiful paintings and learn what makes them tick, you may be interested in Composition Breakdown.

Happy painting!

Dan Scott