“Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I”
For today, we have a stunning work by Gustav Klimt.
“Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” is a brilliant painting by the Austrian artist, Gustav Klimt. It was made between 1904 and 1907 with oil on canvas, embellished with silver and gold foil. He was commissioned to make this piece by the husband of the subject, a wealthy French industrialist, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer. It is one of Klimt’s most famous paintings and is sometimes referred to as the ‘Austrian Mona Lisa’.
Ferdinand Bloch was an avid art collector and supporter of the arts. He was a banker and operated a sugar factory. After his marriage to the socialite, Adele Bauer, the couple changed their surname to Bloch-Bauer. Adele modeled for Klimt on several occasions, including “Judith and the Head of Holofernes” which many believe is Adele, and “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II”. Both Ferdinand and his wife had been friends and longtime supporters of Klimt’s art and Adele had known him for several years prior to Ferdinand. There is some speculation as to whether Adele had a more intimate relationship with Klimt before her marriage.
Klimt took the commission in 1903, and between 1903 and 1904, he created a slew of preparatory sketches of Adele. In December 1903, Klimt was greatly inspired upon seeing a mosaic of “The Empress Theodora and Retinue” at the Basilica di San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy. There are also elements of Art Nouveau in the piece, especially in the gold foil surrounding Adele. In 1904, he began work on the final canvas. It took him three years to finish this painting.
In this painting, Adele is wearing a jeweled choker. Though the intricate mosaics make it somewhat difficult to discern, she is seated on a chair with two lofty arms decorated with golden spirals, visible only as they stand out against the gold-speckled background. She is wearing a dress of dense designs. Delicate gold and silver bracelets decorate her arm. A jeweled choker adorns her neck. Her dark hair is swept up. She has pale skin with rosy cheeks. Adele clasps her hands together in an almost awkward way. She had a deformed finger on one of her hands that she covered up during her portrait sittings. Her dress is designed with eye-like patterning against triangles all oriented in the same direction. The outer fabric of her dress flows to the floor, with decorated golden squares with semi-circles adorning it. The realism of Adele’s physical features contrasts sharply with the patterns and stylizations of the rest of the piece.
Though mostly gold overall, Klimt added bright spots of rich colors including greens, blues, and reds. A black and white checkered pattern separates the green floor from the golden walls.
The painting remained with the Bloch-Bauer family after Klimt finished the commission and stayed with them until 1938 when Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer was expelled by the Nazis from Vienna for purported tax evasion. All of his assets were confiscated by the State, including this piece, and sold at a reduced price to the Nazis. The painting was transferred to the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna, Austria, and its name was changed to “Lady in Gold” to remove any Jewish heritage from the title, as both Ferdinand and Adele were Jewish.
It remained at the gallery until 2004, when Maria Altmann, the heir of Ferdinand and Adele Block-Bauer, won to get the ownership of the painting back after suing the Republic of Austria. As insurance and security was too expensive for such a famous piece, Altmann sold the painting in 2006 for $135 million to Ronald Lauder, the heir to the Estée Lauder cosmetic company. That is an immense amount of money, worth over $205 million today. Lauder put the painting in his museum in New York City, where it resides to this day.
“Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” is currently on display at the Neue Galerie New York in New York, in the United States.
For more on Gustav Klimt, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
