How Much Is The Large Poplar II (Gathering Storm) Worth?

Painted in 1902/03, The Large Poplar II belongs to Klimt’s Secession-period landscape corpus at the moment he was crystallizing his signature flattened, tapestry-like pictorial language. The Poplar series is central to understanding his transition from decorative surface to near-abstract spatial compression, making this work a touchstone within the landscape oeuvre. Its square format—a hallmark across many of Klimt’s most coveted landscapes—adds to its canonical status. Scholarly and exhibition visibility, coupled with the painting’s early date and refined compositional rigor, position it as a benchmark example within Klimt’s non-portrait output, enhancing its desirability and supporting a valuation in the top tier of the landscape category.

Two November 2025 Klimt landscapes—Blooming Meadow at about $86m and Forest Slope at $68.32m (with fees)—define the current trading corridor for top-quality landscapes. Additional anchors include Insel im Attersee at $53.2m (May 2023), Bauerngarten (Blumengarten) at $59.3m (2017), and the outlier Birch Forest at $104.6m in the Paul G. Allen sale. Against this matrix, The Large Poplar II’s period, format, and museum-grade quality align it above Insel im Attersee and broadly in line with Forest Slope, but a notch below the most chromatic garden meadows. These direct, recent benchmarks underpin a confident $60–90m range, with strong potential for mid-to-upper outcomes in a competitive, guaranteed evening sale.

The work’s provenance is exemplary: Flöge family ownership, a recorded Dorotheum auction in 1974, and acquisition by Rudolf Leopold before its transfer to the Leopold Museum. Such clear, institutionally documented lineage mitigates title risk and builds buyer confidence. While museum-held status can limit immediate availability, it can also burnish reputational value and perceived quality through long-term professional care. In a hypothetical deaccession or sanctioned sale, this provenance would likely serve as a positive price driver. Practical sale execution—policy compliance, public communications, and guarantee strategy—would determine whether provenance advantages fully translate into competition at the rostrum.

At 100.8 × 100.8 cm, the work possesses the impactful, square-format presence strongly associated with Klimt’s most sought-after landscapes. Oil on canvas at this date typically exhibits stable paint layers, and sustained institutional stewardship generally correlates with high conservation standards. While a current, independent condition report would be decisive for final pricing, the combination of substantial scale, square format, and museum care supports placement in the upper echelon of landscape values. In practice, minor conservation histories are common at this age and, if well-executed, do not materially impede demand for Klimt at this level.