Schloss Kammer am Attersee, II - Gustav Klimt

A 1910 oil painting by Gustav Klimt, depicting the Schloss Kammer castle near the Attersee through a flattened, mosaic-like application of paint.

Painted in 1910, Schloss Kammer am Attersee, II captures the architectural form of the castle through a distinctively modern lens. Gustav Klimt spent his summers near the Attersee in Upper Austria, where he produced a series of works focusing on the architecture and the surrounding natural environment. This particular composition demonstrates his move away from the figurative work that defined his earlier career, shifting instead toward a structured, almost mosaic-like application of paint.

The canvas is dominated by the facade of the castle, which Klimt renders with a flattened perspective. He avoids traditional depth, choosing to stack elements vertically to create a decorative surface. The foliage and the building are treated with similar attention, using small, repetitive brushstrokes that unify the scene. The colour palette relies on earthy tones, punctuated by the cooler blues and greens of the foreground, which contrast with the warmer, darker hues of the structure itself.

Klimt utilised a telescope to observe the castle from a distance, which explains the compressed, flattened quality of the image. By removing the atmospheric perspective typically found in traditional depictions of buildings, he forces the viewer to engage with the surface of the painting as a collection of patterns and textures. The work reflects the broader interest in optical effects and the systematic breakdown of light that occupied many artists of the period. This piece remains a primary example of his late-career focus on the interplay between architectural geometry and the organic growth of the Austrian countryside.