[4][5] Insel im Attersee was owned by Paul and Irene Hellmann,[6] a Jewish couple who were persecuted by the Nazis.

The work was sold from the collection of Otto Kallir who exhibited it in the landmark show Saved from Europe at his art venue Galerie St. Etienne in New York City in 1940.

[11][12] From 1898 forward, Klimt spent his summers in the Salzkammergut region of Austria where Lake Attersee is located and it was here that he was able to paint en plein air for the first time.

This painting is one of two that Klimt did of the same view between 1900 and 1902, with first work titled Attersee dating from 1900 now residing in the Leopold Museum in Vienna.

[13] Comparisons of this work to paintings by the French Impressionist Claude Monet have been made in accordance of the two artists similarities in their handling of water.