Description:

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, a close friend of Gustav Klimt, from Vienna. The

portrait was commissioned by Adele’s husband and painted in Vienna. The portrait is

comprised of oil and many gold and silver leaves. It is overzealously decadent: Adele

wears an overflowing gold and silver gown and is adorned with an oversized silver

choker. She is slightly off-center on the over twenty square foot canvas (4.5ftx4.5ft).

Capture:

Adele’s husband, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, fled the country of Austria after the

Anschluss, and his belongings were seized by the Nazi’s in 1938. Adele had died earlier

of disease, and Ferdinand died during the war. After the war, the work was returned to

the Austrian Government, and the portrait hung in the Austrian Gallery of the Belvedere

Palace in Vienna. Lawyers tried repeatedly for years to return the painting to the

surviving heirs of Adele. The painting was returned in early 2006.

Current Location:

The painting was sold by the heirs in 2006 for a large sum. Art collector Ronald

S. Lauder paid 135 Million Dollars for the portrait, and he gave it to the Neue Galerie in

New York City. At the time this was the most amount of money paid for a work of art

(not sure if still true). The Neue Galerie now uses the woman in gold heavily in

advertisements, although that may be because of the new movie that is out. It seems as

though the Neue Galerie is using Adele to foster their own cultural patrimony.