Pear Tree

Time for something unexpected. We all know Gustav Klimt's works from his golden period (like the Kiss). But later in his life, Klimt was inspired by the Impressionists and the Post-Impressionists and started to paint in a different, but still very decorative, way. Here we see a pear tree in full bloom. While a horizontal format is traditionally used for landscapes, Klimt chose a square canvas—a pure geometric shape that was also the Vienna Secession’s dominant decorative motif. In the flowering branches, each dab of paint indicates a single leaf, blossom, or piece of fruit. The flat, flickering field of color evokes both Post-Impressionist painting and Byzantine mosaics. The left side of the work has a noticeably denser application of paint than the center or the right side. Klimt continued to add to the painting, filling in these bare spots, even after giving it to Emilie Flöge, his muse and friend and maybe mistress, in 1903.  Please check our article about their mysterious relationship.

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