Country House by the Attersee 1914

Gustav Klimt conjured up this square of paradise in *Country House by the Attersee* with lots of little strokes. I can picture him, squinting in the sun, brush dancing as he’s trying to catch the light. It’s like he was building a mosaic, or maybe knitting with paint. The house, almost hidden under all that green, becomes one with the garden. I get the feeling Klimt wasn't after realism here. It’s more like he was trying to capture the feeling of a place, not just how it looks. The brushstrokes are so deliberate, tiny touches of blues, reds and yellows. It's like he's saying, "Hey, world, I see you, and you're beautiful." There's something generous about this piece; Klimt is inviting us into his world. We painters are all magpies, pinching ideas from each other across time. Every painting is a little echo of something that came before. We are all in conversation with each other. It's an endless loop of seeing, feeling, and making, and that’s what keeps us going.