L'Arbre de Vie (The Tree of Life, Stoclet Frieze)

Gustav Klimt

Oil and gold leaf on paper

MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts

L'Arbre de Vie (The Tree of Life, Stoclet Frieze) is a preparatory study by the Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt, completed in 1909 as the central panel design for a mosaic frieze commissioned between 1905 and 1911 for the dining room of the Palais Stoclet in Brussels. The work depicts a monumental, swirling tree whose spiraling branches, adorned with stylized birds, butterflies, and floral motifs, fill the picture plane in richly ornamental fashion, blending Byzantine, Egyptian, and Japanese visual influences within an Art Nouveau framework. Executed with oil paint and gold leaf on paper, it belongs to Klimt's celebrated "Golden Phase," during which metallic embellishment and intricate patterning became the hallmarks of his mature style. The painting is housed in the permanent collection of the MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna, where it stands as one of the most significant preparatory works in the history of decorative art.