Poppy Field

Poppy Field

Colourful shades of red, green, and blue seize the surface on the canvas as poppies flourish within the painting. Poppy Field was painting by prominent artist Gustav Klimt, in 1907 as the artist transitions into his own style apart from his contemporaries.

Poppy Field by Gustav Klimt showcases the artist's brief transition into impressionism while incorporating traditional realist techniques within his work. During the period, Klimt slightly steered away from his colleagues and his trademark mosaic gold engulfed pieces, to accentuated paintings of landscapes. Klimt had travelled for a few summers to Lake Attersee, where the lush vegetation and scenery influencing him to paint lush landscape paintings.

Klimt focused on illustrating the beauty around him, turning away from allegorical portraits, metaphysical symbolism and realist detail. Gustav Klimt is believed to have experienced a difficult time within his life, spending time alone in the outdoors through the summer months.

Poppy Fields showcases the feelings and emotions the artist was engulfed in as he attempted to place himself in a positive mood appreciating nature. The piece manifests a wide meadow, flowing into a horizon covered in blossoms. The painting carries the illusion of depth and a landscape that deepens. The artist worked to achieve this detail through the use of simple vertical brush strokes. Klimt was able to elongate the painting and create a long landscape with this classic technique that he used through his impressionist style.

A green field, covered in shades of dark green and glimpse of blue, seizes the beginning of the piece. The meadow is covered in sharp colours of blues and greens, paired with prominent red poppies filling the plain. The prominent focal point of the painting remains to be the blood red poppies spread across the plain, another signature element Klimt painted within his work, alongside the red apples trees. The artist accentuates element within his work through bright colours to fill the canvas.

The colour scheme that fills the painting are shades of green, with pops of bright colours to add a contrast. The artist uses small vertical brush strokes throughout the piece to illustrate the texture of the painting, creating a spongy feel to the work. The painting's texture is based on a mosaic pattern mixed with an impressionist technique, that brings the classic pattern into a realist approach.

Upon vacationing in the countryside, Klimt was seized by the natural scenery growing around him; transitioning his work to impressionism. While the style does not hold as much popularity as Klimt's Art Nouveau style that manifested his Gold Phase; Klimt's simple impressionist work reveals pleasant emotions the painter felt. Gustav Klimt worked toward obtaining an array of positive emotions throughout his work, while painting classic artworks that would live on forever.