The Large Poplar I

The Large Poplar I (1900) belongs to Klimt's early landscape series, which he began painting annually during summer retreats to the Attersee region of Upper Austria in the late 1890s. These landscapes represent a parallel and largely independent strand of Klimt's practice, removed from the Viennese art world's controversies over his University ceiling paintings (1900–1907) and the public outcry they generated. The single poplar rising against a threatening sky carries the mood of those embattled years: Klimt described his Attersee summers as essential relief from the pressure of Viennese institutional politics. The motif of a single tree dominating a landscape has roots in Romantic painting — Friedrich's lonely oaks, Corot's silver poplars — but Klimt's handling drains narrative sentiment in favour of almost oppressive atmospheric weight. The Neue Galerie's holding of this work situates it alongside the portrait tradition that was his public face, revealing the private contemplative dimension that the landscapes represent.

The canvas is divided into a narrow band of earth at the bottom, the dominant vertical of the tree trunk, and an overcast sky occupying most of the upper field. Paint is applied in varied textures: smooth for the sky, broken and directional for foliage. The restricted palette of greys, greens, and ochres creates a mood of subdued melancholy.