By Kaitlyn Lowdon September 08, 2023.

In the annals of art history, few stories are as captivating and poignant as that of Adele Bloch-Bauer, the enigmatic subject of Gustav Klimt’s iconic painting “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I,” commonly known as “The Woman in Gold.” This painting is not only a masterpiece of the early 20th century but also a symbol of artistic expression and the fight for justice.

Adel Bloch-Bauer // Par Auteur inconnu — File:Adèle Bloch Bauer vers 1912 / Wikimedia Commons.

Born Adele Bauer on August 9, 1881, in Vienna, she came from a prominent Jewish family, and her upbringing was steeped in the city’s vibrant cultural scene. Her father, Moriz Bauer, was a banker, and her family’s affluence provided her with access to the finest cultural and intellectual circles of the time.

Among her most significant admirers was the acclaimed Austrian symbolist painter, Gustav Klimt. In 1907, Klimt completed his stunning portrait of Adele, a portrait that would become one of his most celebrated works.

The portrait exudes sensuality and sophistication, capturing Adele’s grace and enigmatic charm. This masterpiece is not only a testament to Adele’s allure but also a symbol of the artistic and intellectual fervor that characterized Vienna’s Belle Époque.

she was an intellectual and a patron of the arts, known for hosting salons that attracted some of the most prominent figures of the time, including artists, writers, and thinkers. Her passion for art was reflected not only in her support of the creative community but also in her remarkable jewelry collection, which included the dazzling gold and diamond choker that became emblematic of her opulent lifestyle.

The Bloch-Bauers’ palatial residence was a testament to the grandeur and extravagance of Viennese society during the Belle Époque era. Nestled in the heart of Vienna, their estate was not merely a home.

The Bloch-Bauer residence was adorned with exquisite works of art, including Gustav Klimt’s iconic portrait of Adele, “The Woman in Gold.” The opulent décor and sumptuous furnishings reflected the family’s appreciation for beauty and luxury. The estate’s grandeur extended to its gardens, where meticulously landscaped grounds provided a serene oasis within the bustling city.

At the time, Adele likely believed that the social and cultural fabric of Vienna, where she had been a prominent patron of the arts, would remain unchanged. Adele passed away in 1925 and could not have foreseen the seismic shifts that lay ahead, including the Nazi annexation of Austria and the systematic looting of Jewish property.

As history unfolded, the portraits were indeed seized, and it took many decades and a protracted legal struggle led by her niece, Maria Altmann, to reclaim them and restore a measure of justice to a legacy disrupted by historical upheaval. With the ascent of the Nazi regime in Austria, Ferdinand’s life took a dark and tragic turn.

By April 1938, Ferdinand, once a wealthy industrialist, was left destitute and stripped of his possessions, including the prized Klimt portraits of his late wife, Adele. He fled Austria in an attempt to escape the Nazi regime, but tragedy followed him.

The confiscation of the Bloch-Bauer estate marked a harrowing chapter in the family’s history, emblematic of the widespread devastation and persecution inflicted by the Nazi regime during the Holocaust. The loss of their treasured home and possessions was not only a personal tragedy but also a reflection of the broader horrors of the era.

Gustav Klimt, Adele Bloch-Bauer / Gustav Klimt.

Adele’s gold and diamond choker necklace, though not as widely celebrated as Gustav Klimt’s “The Woman in Gold” portrait, featured a stunning arrangement of diamonds set in intricate patterns and was an exquisite piece of jewelry that perfectly complemented her opulent lifestyle.

Gold and diamonds were the materials of choice for such aristocratic jewelry during the Belle Époque era, and Adele’s necklace featured a combination of these precious materials, expertly crafted into an intricate design. Anecdotal accounts from the time suggest that Adele cherished her jewelry collection and was particularly fond of this choker necklace.

The necklace, like the portrait itself, embodied the Belle Époque’s fascination with opulence, artistry, and extravagance.

This severe infection of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord took her life prematurely in 1925, at the age of 43. Her untimely demise shocked Vienna’s social and cultural circles, where she had been a prominent patron of the arts and a vital part of the intellectual community.

Her passing also initiated a series of events concerning the ownership and restitution of Klimt’s portrait, turning both her life and the painting into enduring symbols of art, history, and justice. On December 9, 1937, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer made a touching gesture that intricately wove life, art, and family together.

The gesture was deeply symbolic, serving both as a family heirloom and a lasting connection to the art and elegance that Adele embodied. This poignant act also added another layer of depth to the history and narrative of the painting, imbuing it with a sense of continuity and shared heritage that transcended generations.

By April 1938, a dark chapter unfolded that drastically altered the lives of Maria Altmann and her family. Following the Anschluss, when Nazi Germany annexed Austria, the Nazis confiscated the Bloch-Bauer estate, along with Maria Altmann’s own property.

The choker vanished into the labyrinthine network of looted Jewish assets. Unlike the Klimt paintings, which were eventually returned to the family after a protracted legal battle, the whereabouts of the choker remain unknown.

It remains a missing piece in the complex jigsaw of history, art, and memory that surrounds the life and legacy of the Bloch-Bauer family.

Maria Altmann // Gregorcollins / Wikimedia Commons.

Maria Altmann was more than just the niece of the famous Adele Bloch-Bauer. she became an emblematic figure in the fight for justice and restitution of art looted during the Holocaust era.

Maria was forced to flee Austria during World War II due to the Nazi occupation, leaving behind her family’s considerable collection of artwork and property, which was confiscated by the Nazis. The painting of Adele was seized by the Nazis and post-war was hung at the Belvedere Museum in Austria, which claimed ownership based on her 1923 will.

It wasn’t until the late 1990s that Maria Altmann, then living in the United States, initiated a legal battle to reclaim the painting and other artworks from the Austrian government. This process was fraught with obstacles, including a requirement at the time that she pay a considerable fee just to have h.

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In researching the Woman in Gold true story, we discovered that Gustav Klimt’s 1907 painting was originally titled “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I,” named for the woman who posed for it, Maria Altmann’s Aunt Adele. It was the first of two portraits that Klimt painted of Adele.

Yes, however, there has been nothing to confirm this. “When I asked my mother, ‘Did Adele have a relationship with Klimt.

It was an intellectual friendship.’ But my mother would always say that,” admits the real Maria Altmann, “even when she was 100% sure that the people had more than an intellectual friendship. At the time, [people] had their affairs and didn’t discuss it.” -The Lady in Gold Documentary.

The complex finished portrait consists of oil, silver, and gold on canvas.

Yes, the subject of the famous Klimt painting, Adele Bloch-Bauer, died from meningitis in 1925 at age 43. To learn more about Adele, artist Gustav Klimt, and the painting’s journey through history, read Anne-Marie O’Connor’s book The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt’s Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.

Yes, like in the movie, when they raided Maria’s family’s home they also took jewelry, her father’s Stradivarius cello, and various other paintings. The most valuable of these was the gold leaf 1907 portrait of Maria’s Aunt Adele.

“They didn’t ask you. They just rang the doorbell and I opened it and there they were.

“My father died two weeks after that. it was absolutely a broken heart — he died of a broken heart” (Telegraph).

Maria’s husband Fritz told his guard that he needed to see the dentist. The nail-biting escape through the streets is movie fiction, although Fritz’s brother Bernhard did suggest possibly losing a guard by taking him to the Bristol Hotel and having him wait in the hall while Fritz slipped out through the hotel’s bar entrance.

-SchoenBlog.com With the assistance of Fritz’s brother Bernhard and his friends, Maria and Fritz did eventually board a plane to Cologne. From there they made their way across the Dutch border and eventually to Liverpool.

As the British were growing more suspicious of Austrians, Germans and Italians living in Britain, Maria and Fritz decided to head to America (Mirror Online).

“He was brought home, the head was shaved, he looked awful” (The Lady in Gold Documentary). Fritz was then put on house arrest for three months up until his escape, because the Nazis were unwilling to let him go free until they had gotten every last penny out of his brother (SchoenBlog.com).

Yes, but the paintings (2 portraits and 4 landscapes by Klimt) were not to be given to Austria at the time of her death. She specified in her will that the paintings were to be left to her husband and asked that he donate them to the Austrian State Gallery upon his death, to be put on display in the Belvedere Palace, Austria’s prestigious national gallery.

German attorney Friedrich Führer administered their sale on behalf of the German state, and in 1941, the Austrian State Gallery acquired the Klimt paintings. For the majority of the 60 years that followed, “The Lady in Gold” would hang in the Belvedere Palace in Vienna.

He reasoned that the Klimt paintings were in fact his since he had paid for them. His will stated that all previous testaments concerning the paintings were to be null and void, including his late wife’s will.

Yes, Randy Schoenberg, portrayed by Ryan Reynolds in the movie, is the grandson of Jewish composer and painter Arnold Schoenberg, whose music was labeled “degenerate” by the Nazi Party’s cultural arm.

After quitting his job, Randy says that he made only $20,000 the first year he worked on Maria’s case, scraping together money from other cases he worked on the side. However, the movie omits the fact that after that first year, Randy joined a partnership that gave him a salary and the freedom to go after the Klimt paintings.

Klimt’s most well-known painting is The Kiss, pictured below. It was not one of the paintings involved in Maria Altmann’s legal battle.

Its popularity has inspired various works across popular culture, including The Kiss Han and Leia t-shirt for the movie Star Wars, which is pictured below on the left.

As the movie indicates, in order to sue in Austria, Maria Altmann would have had to put down a large deposit reflecting the value of the paintings. “In this case, it would have been almost several million dollars for Maria just to initiate a lawsuit,” says Randy Schoenberg.

courts. He filed his complaint against Austria in August of 2000 (Republic of Austria v.

on sales of posters and books featuring the Klimt paintings. -The Lady in Gold Documentary.

Yes, Supreme Court Associate Justice David Souter asked Randy a long, convoluted question that Randy did not understand. Like in the movie, Randy similarly replied, “I’m sorry, your Honor, I don’t think I understood the question.

” -The Lady in Gold Documentary.

Altmann’s fight to reclaim the paintings lasted approximately eight years, from 1998 until 2006. The movie significantly shortens the timeframe.

At the time, it was the highest sum ever paid for a painting. In the film, Lauder meets with Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren) and offers to pay for more prestigious lawyers, but she turns him down.

-NYTimes.com. The Woman in Gold movie implies that Maria Altmann did not care about the value of the paintings and that she simply wanted to right a wrong.

The heirs’ decision to sell all of the restituted paintings, valued at $325 million according to the Wall Street Journal, is not chronicled in the film, but some members of the art world criticized the decision.

As stated in the prologue prior to the movie’s end credits, more than 100,000 works of art remain unaccounted for. This statistic was also brought to light in the 2014 film The Monuments Men, which we researched as well.

There is no way to know who has them and little can be done to compel their return. -NYTimes.com.

A replica of the Woman in Gold painting was used for filming. The real painting hangs in Ronald Lauder’s Neue Galerie in New York City.

Further explore the Woman in Gold true story by watching the hour-long documentary featured below. The real Randol Schoenberg posted this Woman in Gold documentary that explores the history and recovery of the Bloch-Bauer Klimt paintings by Maria Altmann in 2006.

Adele Bloch-Bauer II was the second portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer painted by Gustav Klimt. Although stylistically very different works, the two portraits share the same tumultuous history.

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was an Austrian artist and the leader of the Vienna Secession movement, whose work would come to define the Art Nouveau movement. Born in 1862 in Baumgarten, Austria, Klimt was the son of a gold and silver engraver.

During his studies he spent a lot of time copying the works of Old Masters in Vienna’s museums. He also sold portraits with his brother and worked for an ear specialist making technical drawings, all of which helped Klimt develop a mastery for depicting the human form.

After completing his studies he opened his own studio in 1883, specialising in mural paintings. His early work was classical, in keeping with 19th century academic painting, as is exemplified by his murals for the Vienna Burgtheater (1888), for which he was awarded the Golden Order of Merit by the Emperor Franz Josef.

From here, Klimt shed the classical pretenses for depicting the human form with propriety and began to explore themes of human desire, dreams and mortality through richly symbolic compositions which would come to define his style.

He continued his rebellious experimentation with his commissioned mural for the Kunsthistorisches Museum, where he represented the history of art from Egypt to the Renaissance through human female figures, rejecting any historical or allegorical pretext that would have deemed such portrayals acceptable by the establishment.

In 1897, along with other members of Vienna’s Avant-Garde, Klimt founded and became the leader of a radical group called The Vienna Secession. His work became increasingly concerned with psychology and sexuality and women appear as his repeated favourite subject matter.

Klimt died at the age of 55 and despite having mentored artists such as Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka his legacy was somewhat overlooked until much later in the twentieth century.

This fact was a reflection of her standing among Vienna’s elite and her position as a patron of the arts with her husband Ferdinand. Klimt’s first version of her portrait, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I is the epitome of his opulent Gold Period style, whereas Adele Bloch-Bauer II is a more simple, colorful oil on canvas work.

In Adele Bloch-Bauer II, Klimt portrays Adele as a vertical tower in the center of the composition. She wears a dark hat and a simple off-white dress with a blue sash and shrug with the lower part of the dress decorated in darker patterns.

The patterned background suggests a close up of a decorated interior and refers to Adele Bloch-Bauer’s high social status.

Altmann, in which Adele and Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer’s heir Maria Altmann sued the Austrian State for refusing to return her family’s art collection after the Nazi’s stole the works during the Second World War. Maria Altmann won the case and auctioned the painting in 2006, which was bought by Oprah Winfrey for $88 million.

Adele Bloch-Bauer II has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and the Neue Gallery in New York and now resides in the anonymous buyers private collection.

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She cherished her friends and family,” said Juliet Sorensen ’95 On the Campus Gov.

Five alumni ponder the future. Alumni News Sign Up for PAW’s New Book Club Our first read is Jennifer Weiner ’91’s new novel, ‘The Breakaway’ Features War & Words With tension high over the Israel-Gaza war, can Princeton avoid uglier incidents seen at other universities.

7 Attacks Organizers say the event was meant to combat those who’ve tried to deny or minimize the Hamas massacre On the Campus Parents of Sophia Jones ’27 Mourn ‘Glorious’ and ‘Bright’ Daughter “She was deeply kind. She cherished her friends and family,” said Juliet Sorensen ’95 On the Campus Gov.

Features The Legacy of Legacy Family ties are famously strong at Princeton, but changes to admission policies could be coming. Five alumni ponder the future.

Features The Legacy of Legacy Family ties are famously strong at Princeton, but changes to admission policies could be coming. Five alumni ponder the future.

Features. Family ties are famously strong at Princeton, but changes to admission policies could be coming.

Alumni News Sign Up for PAW’s New Book Club Our first read is Jennifer Weiner ’91’s new novel, ‘The Breakaway’.

Alumni News. Our first read is Jennifer Weiner ’91’s new novel, ‘The Breakaway’.

Features War & Words With tension high over the Israel-Gaza war, can Princeton avoid uglier incidents seen at other universities.

With tension high over the Israel-Gaza war, can Princeton avoid uglier incidents seen at other universities.

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On the Campus Anti-Israel and Pro-Palestinian Graffiti Marks Campus The cannon on the lawn in front of Cannon Dial Elm Club was among three locations vandalized.

On the Campus. The cannon on the lawn in front of Cannon Dial Elm Club was among three locations vandalized.

7 Attacks Organizers say the event was meant to combat those who’ve tried to deny or minimize the Hamas massacre.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (also called The Lady in Gold or The Woman in Gold) is a painting by Gustav Klimt, completed between 1903 and 1907. The portrait was commissioned by the sitter’s husband, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer [de], a Jewish banker and sugar producer.

The portrait is the final and most fully representative work of Klimt’s golden phase. It was the first of two depictions of Adele by Klimt—the second was completed in 1912.

Adele died in 1925. her will asked that the artworks by Klimt were to be left to the Galerie Belvedere, although these belonged to Ferdinand, not her.

The painting was stolen by the Nazis in 1941, along with the remainder of Ferdinand’s assets, after a false charge of tax evasion was made against him. The assets raised from the purported sales of artwork, property and his sugar business were offset against the tax claim.

Ferdinand died in 1945. his will stated that his estate should go to his nephew and two nieces.

In 1998 the Austrian investigative journalist Hubertus Czernin established that the Galerie Belvedere contained several works stolen from Jewish owners in the war and that the gallery had refused to return the art to their original owners or to acknowledge a theft had taken place. One of Ferdinand’s nieces, Maria Altmann, hired the lawyer E.

In 2006 after a seven-year legal claim, which included a hearing in front of the Supreme Court of the United States, an arbitration committee in Vienna agreed that the painting, and others, had been stolen from the family and that it should be returned to Altmann.

Gustav Klimt was born in 1862 in Baumgarten, near Vienna in Austria-Hungary. He attended the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts (German: Kunstgewerbeschule Wien) before taking on commissions with his brother, Ernst, and a fellow-student Franz von Matsch from 1879.

Klimt worked in Vienna during the Belle Époque, during which time the city made “an extreme and lasting contribution to the history of modern art”. During the 1890s he was influenced by European avant-garde art, including the works of the painters Fernand Khnopff, Jan Toorop and Aubrey Beardsley.

Klimt in particular challenged what he saw as the “hypocritical boundaries of respectability set by Viennese society”. according to the art historian Susanna Partsch, he was “the enfant terrible of the Viennese art scene, [and] was acknowledged to be the painter of beautiful women”.

From 1898 Klimt began to experiment with the style in what became known as his Byzantine or Golden period, when his works, stylistically influenced by Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts movement, were gilded with gold leaf. [n 1] Klimt had begun using gold in his 1890 portrait of the pianist Joseph Pembauer, but his first work that included a golden theme was Pallas Athene (1898).

[Klimt’s] view of the world”. Néret also states that Klimt used the gold to give subjects a sacred or magical quality.

Adele Bauer [de] was from a wealthy Jewish Viennese family. Her father was a director of the Wiener Bankverein, the seventh largest bank in Austria-Hungary, and the general director of the Oriental Railway.

Opinion is divided on whether Adele and Klimt had an affair. The artist Catherine Dean considered that Adele was “the only society lady painted by Klimt who is known definitely to be his mistress”, while the journalist Melissa Müller and the academic Monica Tatzkow write that “no evidence has ever been produced that their relationship was more than a friendship”.

the female partner is described by Whitford as an “idealised portrait of Adele”. Whitford writes that the only evidence put forward to support the theory is the position of the woman’s right hand, as Adele had a disfigured finger following a childhood accident.

Adele’s parents arranged a marriage with Ferdinand Bloch, a banker and sugar manufacturer. Adele’s older sister had previously married Ferdinand’s older brother.

The couple, who had no children, both changed their surnames to Bloch-Bauer. Socially well-connected, Adele brought together writers, politicians and intellectuals for regular salons at their home.

The couple shared a love of art and patronised several artists, collecting primarily nineteenth-century Viennese paintings and modern sculpture. Ferdinand also had a passion for neoclassical porcelain, and by 1934 his collection was over 400 pieces and one of the finest in the world.

In 1901 Klimt painted Judith and the Head of Holofernes. the art historian Gottfried Fliedl observes that the painting is “widely known and interpreted as Salome”.

Whitford also writes that the painting displays “apparent evidence of.. cuckoldry”.

[n 3]. In mid-1903 Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer commissioned Klimt to paint a portrait of his wife.

Klimt drew over a hundred preparatory sketches for the portrait between 1903 and 1904. [n 4] The Bloch-Bauers purchased some of the sketches he had made of Adele when they obtained 16 Klimt drawings.

Lenz later wrote that “the mosaics made an immense decisive impression on.. [Klimt].

Klimt later said that the “mosaics of unbelievable splendour” were a “revelation” to him. The Ravenna mosaics also attracted the attention of other artists who provided illustrations of the work, including Wassily Kandinsky in 1911 and Clive Bell in 1914.

Klimt undertook more extensive preparations for the portrait than any other piece he worked on. Much of the portrait was undertaken by an elaborate technique of using gold and silver leaf and then adding decorative motifs in bas-relief using gesso, a paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk or gypsum.

Klimt finished the work by 1907.

[n 5] it is composed of oil paint and silver and gold leaf on canvas. The portrait shows Adele Bloch-Bauer sitting on a golden throne or chair, in front of a golden starry background.

She wears a tight golden dress in a triangular shape, made up of rectilinear forms. In places the dress merges into the background so much so that the museum curator Jan Thompson writes that “one comes across the model almost by accident, so enveloped is she in the thick geometric scheme”.

[Klimt’s] gold-encrusted manner of painting”.

they make up less than a twelfth of the work and, in Whitford’s opinion, convey little about the sitter’s character. For Whitford the effect of the gold background is to “remove Adele Bloch-Bauer from the earthly plane, transform the flesh and blood into an apparition from a dream of sensuality and self-indulgence”.

The titular character in Woman in Gold is Adele Bloch-Bauer, whose husband, Czech sugar mogul Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, commissioned Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt to paint two portraits of his wife when she was 25 years old. The first and most famous of the two later became known as Woman in Gold.

Maria Viktoria Bloch-Bauer was born to Gustav Bloch-Bauer and Therese Bauer on February 18, 1916, in Vienna, Austria. Her wealthy Jewish family, including her uncle Ferdinand and aunt Adele, were close to the artists of the Vienna Secession movement, which Klimt helped establish in 1897.

(The lawyer who handled Altmann’s case was E Randol Schoenberg, the composer’s grandson. Ryan Reynolds portrays him in the film.).

Adele would often hold court for musicians, artists and writers in the salon of her huge house on Elisabethstrasse near the Wiener Staatsoper (the Vienna State Opera house). However, the world came to know Adele as Klimt had painted her in 1907.

In 1925, Adele died of meningitis at the age of 44. Afterward, Altmann recalled that the family’s regular Sunday brunches at her uncle’s house always included a viewing of the portrait, as well as four other works by Klimt, including another later painting of Adele.

Altmann was left with only memories of the paintings, as they were stolen when the Nazis took over Austria in 1938. She had just married opera singer Fritz Altmann and her uncle had given her Adele’s diamond earrings and a necklace as a wedding present.

Her father, Gustav, was most devastated when his prized Stradivarius cello was taken from him. Altmann recalled: “My father died two weeks after that.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I became known as Woman in Gold, as well as a symbol of all that the family had lost. The Nazis held Fredrick at Dachau concentration camp to persuade his brother, Bernhard, to sign over his lucrative textile factory to them.

The couple then lived under house arrest until Altmann managed to elude the guards by claiming that her husband needed a dentist. The two boarded a plane to Cologne and made their way to the Dutch border, where a peasant guided them across a brook, under barbed wire and into the Netherlands.

While Frederick was working for aerospace firm Lockheed Martin in California, Bernhard had started a new textile factory in Liverpool, England. He sent Altmann a cashmere sweater to see if Americans might like the fine, soft wool.

Other stores across the country followed suit, and Altmann eventually opened her own clothing boutique. The couple had three sons and a daughter in America, building a life together in a country that welcomed them.

For many years, Altmann had assumed that the Austrian National Gallery had taken possession of the Klimt paintings. But when she was 82, she learned from the tenacious Austrian investigative journalist Hubertus Czernin that the title to the paintings was hers, and she vowed to get them back.

It had kept the paintings based on Adele’s will in which she made a “kind request,” that Ferdinand donate the paintings to the state museum after his death, which took place in 1945.

Yet the paintings hung in Vienna’s Austrian Gallery at Belvedere Palace with a placard inscribed: “Adele Bloch-Bauer 1907, bequeathed by Adele and Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer.” When Altmann arrived there, she defied the security guards to be photographed beside her Aunt Adele, saying loudly: “That painting belongs to me.”.

“They will delay, delay, delay, hoping I will die,” she told The Los Angeles Times in 2001, with no end in sight to her case. “But I will do them the pleasure of staying alive.”.

After the paintings arrived in the United States, she told The New York Times: “You know, in Austria they asked, ‘Would you loan them to us again. ’ And I said: ‘We loaned them for 68 years.

Altmann and her lawyer took their case all the way to the Supreme Court and won. However, an independent arbitration followed in 2004, resulting in Altmann’s favor.

Altmann said her Aunt Adele had always wanted her golden portrait in a public gallery. Ronald Lauder, a businessman and philanthropist who had loved Adele’s face from boyhood, happily paid $135 million to enshrine her in his Neue Galerie in Manhattan.

Gustav Klimt’s famous painting “Adele Bloch-Bauer I” is not only an impressive example of the artist’s skills and distinctive style but also a testament to the importance of art and history in our world. Gustav Klimt’s “Adele Bloch-Bauer I” is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating works of the Austrian artist.

The motif portrays a glamorous and wealthy Jewish woman named Adele Bloch-Bauer. She was a symbol of beauty and elegance in the early 20th century, an important figure in Viennese society, and a significant patron of Klimt’s art.

Adele is depicted wearing a golden gown adorned with geometric patterns and flowers. In addition, stylised eyes are noticeable on the robe, which are reminiscent of all-seeing eyes.

The gold tones dominate the portrait, blending perfectly with the opulent ornaments and patterns, creating a breathtaking symmetry in the painting. Gustav Klimt’s unique style and use of gold leaf make “Adele Bloch-Bauer I” unmistakable.

It is not only the breathtaking beauty of the Adele that makes Klimt’s painting so special but also its turbulent history. In 1903, Gustav Klimt, one of the leading artists of the Viennese Art Nouveau movement at the time, received a commission from Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer to paint a portrait of his wife, Adele.

When Adele died in 1925 at the age of only 43, her husband Ferdinand inherited the famous painting. However, in 1938, he was forced to leave his wife’s painting behind when he had to flee his home country of Austria due to the Nazi takeover.

Even years after World War II, the State Gallery Belvedere refused to return the artwork to the rightful heirs of the Bloch-Bauers. It was only after a lengthy legal battle that the painting was returned to its rightful heir, Maria Altmann, in 2006, and it is now an important attraction in the Austrian Gallery Belvedere in Vienna.

As a young woman, at the age of 18, she married significantly older industrialist Ferdinand Bloch. The Bloch-Bauer couple, part of the Jewish bourgeoisie in Vienna, shared a passion for art and were known for their impressive art collection.

This is how Adele Bloch-Bauer and Gustav Klimt met around 1900. It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship that primarily involved artistic collaboration.

However, Adele Bloch-Bauer’s contribution to Klimt’s art was not limited to her support behind the scenes. she also served as his muse and was the only woman he portrayed twice, in the works “Adele Bloch-Bauer I” (1907) and “Adele Bloch-Bauer II” (1912).

The “Adele Bloch-Bauer I” painting, created in the course of Klimt’s “Golden Phase”, is of particular cultural and historical importance because of its exceptional beauty. The work shows Adele as an important patron of the artist, radiating beauty and elegance.

The richly adorned dress and jewellery, such as the necklace studded with silver stones and diamonds, underscore her elevated social standing. The colours used by Klimt, such as bronze, silver, and gold, create extraordinary beauty that fascinates all observers.

However, Klimt’s depiction of Adele’s hands, unnaturally interlaced, gives the painting a mysterious character. This pose suggests tension, contradicting her seemingly perfect appearance and beauty.

Gustav Klimt was one of the most important artists of the Viennese Art Nouveau movement. However, there is some debate as to whether Klimt’s “Golden Adele” can truly be considered an Art Nouveau work, as some art experts identify elements of Modern Art movements, such as Expressionism and Abstraction, in this painting.

Ultimately, it cannot be denied that Klimt combined traditional and modern artmaking the transition to modern art and having a major influence on its development. For example, the use of gold and geometric shapes influenced the modern art world and inspired many artists.

“Adele Bloch-Bauer I” is a masterpiece inspired by ornamentation and nature. Klimt used typical Art Nouveau characteristics, such as a love for ornamentation and a preference for flat surfaces and contours, to create a unique aesthetic and imagery.

One of the greatest controversies concerns the still unresolved question of whether Adele Bloch-Bauer and Gustav Klimt had a secret romantic affair. Klimt was known for maintaining close and intimate relationships with some of his female models, but there is no reliable evidence proving a romantic relationship between him and Adele.

Not only are the faces of the female figures in both paintings strikingly similar, but both models also wear distinctive gold necklaces. In Klimt’s “Adele Bloch-Bauer I” painting itself, there are hints of an intimate relationship between Klimt and Adele.

Additionally, the use of colours, such as the delicate blue on her collarbone and the red on her cheeks, implies an erotic connection. Despite this controversy, “Adele Bloch-Bauer I” remains a masterpiece of art history, fascinating not only for its beauty but also for its tumultuous history.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II is a 1912 painting by Gustav Klimt. The work is a portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881–1925), a Vienna socialite who was a patron and close friend of Klimt.

In 1907, Klimt completed an earlier portrait of Bloch-Bauer. During World War II, both portraits were among the artworks stolen by the Nazis from the descendants of Bloch-Bauer.

Adele Bloch-Bauer was the wife of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, a wealthy industrialist who sponsored the arts and supported Gustav Klimt. Adele Bloch-Bauer was the only person whose portrait was painted twice by Klimt.

Adele’s portraits had hung in the family home prior to their seizure by the Nazis during World War II. The Austrian museum where they resided after the war was reluctant to return them to their rightful owners, hence a protracted court battle in the United States and in Austria (see Republic of Austria v.

In November 2006, Christie’s auction house sold Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II at auction for almost $88 million, the fourth-highest priced piece of art at auction at the time. The buyer was Oprah Winfrey.

The painting was temporarily lent to Neue Galerie New York for the exhibition “Klimt and the Women of Vienna’s Golden Age, 1900–1918”, temporarily reuniting it with Portrait I. In the fall of 2014, Adele Bloch-Bauer II was given as a special long-term loan to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

The art world has been buzzing with excitement following the remarkable acquisition of Gustav Klimt’s iconic masterpiece, “Adele Bloch-Bauer I,” by renowned philanthropist and collector Ronald Lauder. The gilded portrait, created in 1907, is a symbol of Klimt’s artistic brilliance and has become synonymous with the Viennese Secession movement.

“Adele Bloch-Bauer I” is considered one of Klimt’s most celebrated and recognizable works. The portrait depicts Adele Bloch-Bauer, a prominent societal figure and patron of the arts in Vienna.

The painting’s opulence and attention to detail exemplify the opulent aesthetic of the Viennese Secession and solidify Klimt’s position as a visionary artist. Ronald Lauder, an esteemed art collector, and philanthropist, made waves in the art world with his acquisition of “Adele Bloch-Bauer I.” Lauder’s deep appreciation for art and dedication to preserving cultural heritage make him an ideal custodian of this priceless masterpiece.

The record-breaking sale of “Adele Bloch-Bauer I” highlights the enduring impact of Gustav Klimt’s oeuvre and its significance in the art market. This portrait, in particular, has played a pivotal role in shaping our understanding of Viennese Secession art and continues to inspire artists, scholars, and enthusiasts worldwide.

The responsibility of safeguarding and preserving cultural heritage lies with collectors, institutions, and philanthropists like Ronald Lauder. By acquiring and supporting significant works of art, they contribute to the preservation and accessibility of cultural treasures for the benefit of society.

The sale of “Adele Bloch-Bauer I” for a staggering $135 million not only reflects its artistic and historical importance but also reinforces the enduring value of masterpieces in the art market. Such extraordinary prices reaffirm the status of iconic works as rare and priceless commodities that transcend mere financial value.

Ronald Lauder’s acquisition of Gustav Klimt’s mesmerizing portrait, “Adele Bloch-Bauer I,” for an unprecedented $135 million marks a significant moment in the art world. This record-breaking sale not only underscores the artwork’s exceptional value but also highlights its enduring significance in the realm of art history.

The acquisition serves as a testament to the power of art and its ability to captivate and inspire across time and borders.

In 1967, the Klimt Catalogue, revised and edited by Johannes Dobai with Fritz Novotny, showed the world 230 masterpieces of works by the twentieth-century famous artist- Gustav Klimt. And when it came out, art lovers saw an artist who was a painter of women, as one-third of the entire catalogue consists of portraits of ladies.

For instance, the paintings displaying the Golden style turned into hieratic idols. Comparatively, the sketches formed a free and fluid movement through the poses, and Gustav showed bodies with plasticity and smoothness.

And amidst all these efforts, Gustav assuredly, made his name as the best artist to portray women after we saw another Mona Lisa by him, The Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. Thus, we will study it, which not only illustrates an optimistic use of gold ornamentation but also demonstrates the eternal beauty of women.

“I have the gift of neither the spoken nor the written word, especially if I have to say something about myself or my work. Whoever wants to know something about me -as an artist, the only notable thing- ought to look carefully at my pictures and try and see in them what I am and what I want to do.”.

Here we see the lips of the lady are red and full, with eyes staring out from a light-filled gold leaf, seeming to create a transcendent plane of its own. The gentle realist face of the lady floats against the jewel box, and the expression vamp has not yet enriched our vocabularies.

Gustav Klimt, one of the most famous symbolist painters of the twentieth century, painted Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. His primary focus remained on the female body, so his paintings, murals, and sketches crucially included portraits of women.

Gustav was Vienna’s most famous advocator of Art Nouveau and had a style identified in Germany called Youth Style. The artwork dates back to 1907, which sets a crucial commission of Gustav.

Adele’s husband, Ferdinand Bloch- Bauer, a wealthy businessman who owned a sugar factory in Vienna, gave Gustave a commission for this painting. Before filling the colours to the artwork, Gustav made at least 1000 sketches to perfect the boundaries.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I currently lies for exhibition in the Neue Galerie, New York. For the last fifteen years, the gallery had the right to exhibit this masterpiece to the viewers.

As Klimt was a member of the Vienna Secession, he wanted to break away from the traditional norms of painting. Hence, with the fusion of Philosophy and Medicine, he painted the composition, beautifully.

From 1890 to 1915, a widespread art movement was going on, signalling the renewal of architecture and decorative arts in Europe and the United States of America. And this took different names and styles in other countries.

It was an energetic reaction to nineteenth-century academic art and a rejection of past styles in favour of all things modern. It included naturalistic motifs derived from Japanese art, wavy and cold fluid lines, and transparent colours.

Commissioned by Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer for 4000 crowns, the painting showcases a realist and feminine depiction of Adele Bloch Bauer against a jewel box as she seems oppressed by her weighty legacy, the decline of Spain, and the sad reality of life. You already know a brief information about the painting.

Gustav Klimt, born in 1862, belonged to a poor-family where his father was a goldsmith and engraver, scarcely able to support his wife and seven children. He obtained his studies at the Kunstgewerbeschule (the Vienna School of Art) at the age of fourteen.

In the nineteenth century later part, which was a period of great architectural activity in Vienna, Emperor Franz Joseph ordered the destruction of the fortifications around the medieval city centre. And the Ringstrasse became a district with magnificent buildings and parks.

And the succeeding year, they were commissioned to produce a ceiling painting for thermal baths in Carlsbad. Gustav was a painter of great skill and promise who remained thoroughly within the accepted contemporary norms in his choices of academic and allegorical scenes when working on the early works, such as Fable and Idylee.

Most importantly, Gustav’s paintings communicate their sensual beauty and eroticism. The crucial subjects he treats were allegories, portraits, landscapes and erotic figures.

Gustav was a well-known artist of Vienna who was also an aversion to the old scriptures, but he loved the religious symbolism and always considered art to be the source of almost devout truth. Consequently, he went to Ravenna in 1903 to study the sixth-century mosaics, the most important Byzantine art outside Constantinople, as an aesthetic pilgrimage.

In the past, gold typified the primaeval of the sun, and in the Christian world, it represented the divine, so gold tiles were reserved for potentates and saints. During this same time, he also saw the pictures of Empress Theodora, glowing against the golden tiles, shimmering like a halo above her head.

Whatever her origins be, one of the civil servants praised her as surpassing in the intelligence of men who lived. As for Theodara, she was the mistress of another man, but when she met Justinian, the emperor’s son, he married her anyway, but she was unable to bear children.

Hence, the mosaics declared her unbelievable splendour. You might wonder why we are focusing so much on a mosaic, which is hundreds of years old.

Coming to the Adele Bloch Bauer painting, one must understand that a portrait by Gustav Klimt was no small gift. Hence, this commission costed around 4000 crowns, which equals a quarter of the price of a royal country villa.

On this, the critic Bahr observed,. “It was sometimes not safe for society women and their good name, to have their portrait painted by Klimt.”.

In 1901, Gustav marked the beginning of the golden style, Judith I, celebrates the origin of this movement, and while he painted the portrait of Adele, it was already at its peak. Some of the contemporaries suggested that as of the artist, the son of a goldsmith, the gold was a shining memory of his early days and the timeless material of glorious seduction.

But Gustav already discovered the potential of the colour gold as a decorative function in the Modern Amoretti (1868) by Hans Makart. Hence, just after this illustrated reference, Gustav began to use gold at first as frame panels, as we can see in Love and Josef Lewinsky as Carlos in Clavigo, then as an ornamental background element in the Allegory of Music 1895.

After the 1903 visit, Gustav was more inclined to the Byzantine mosaics and the cover of reality through gold use. Gold, however, is strenuous to use as its two qualities of brightness and opacity modulate the relationship between flat and plastic surfaces.

Since 2006, “Adele Bloch-Bauer I” (also known as “The Lady in Gold” and “Adele I”) by Gustav Klimt has been on exhibit at the Neue Galerie in New York City, after having been purchased by Ronald S. Lauder for $135 million.

It arrived at the gallery after an arbitration decision in Austria to return the painting to Maria Altmann, the niece of Adele and the sole surviving direct heir of Adele and Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer.

Origins of Painting. Adele Bauer was born in Vienna in 1881.

Her father was a director of a bank association and the president of the Orient Railway Company. In 1899, she married Ferdinand, who was much older by 17 years.

Gustav Bloch. Some time later, the couples combined family names to “Bloch-Bauer.” Ferdinand, a Czech, owned a manor in Prague in addition to his large home in Vienna, along with a sugar refinery outside of Vienna.

The Bloch-Bauer Vienna residence served as the headquarters of the sugar refinery, as home to the extended family and as the center of a “salon” hosted by Adele. it bustled with artists, actors, musicians, writers and Vienna’s social elite.

some have said the relationship went beyond portraiture and the painting of “Adele I” and “Adele II” and that Adele herself was the inspiration for Klimt’s well-known painting, “The Kiss.” “The Kiss” still hangs in Vienna’s Belvedere Museum, and the museum remains the largest holder of Klimts despite the loss of several paintings to Maria and the four children of her brother and sister.

Around 1903, Ferdinand commissioned “Adele I,” which was completed in 1907. With the fall of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in 1918 after World War I, the Bloch-Bauers obtained Czech citizenship but remained in Vienna.

her will left her estate to her husband but included a “request” or “wish” that on her husband’s death, “Adele I” and another painting, “Adele II,” as well as other Klimt works, be donated to the Belvedere Museum. In 1937, the Nazis entered Austria during the Anschluss.

Ferdinand fled to Switzerland, where he died in 1945.

The necklace portrayed in “Adele I,” given to her as a wedding present by her uncle, and her engagement ring and other jewelry, were taken from her. The necklace, which had belonged to Adele, was presented by General Hermann Goering as a present to his wife.

The family escaped to England but was forced to leave when the British entered World War II. They arrived in the United States and first lived in Fall River, Mass., where Bernhard opened a sweater factory.

After running factories in Austria, England and Massachusetts, Bernhard finally located to Texas, where he became the largest U.S. importer and distributor of cashmere.

Meanwhile, Klimt’s notoriety was growing in Europe, the United States and around the world. Because of the avant-garde nature of his works, Klimt posters, including “Adele I” and “The Kiss,” became very popular during the 1960s in American college dormitories.

The Bloch-Bauers owned seven Klimt paintings, five of which were finally returned in the arbitration: “Buchenwald,” 1903. “Adele I,” 1907.

“Adele II,” 1912. “Apfelbaum I,” 1912.

and “Amalie Zuckerkandl,” 1918. “Amalie Zuckerkandl” wasn’t returned, as it was found to have been sold back to a family friend from whom it had been purchased.

In 1936, Ferdinand donated “Schloss Kammer” to the museum.

Erich Führer. He gave “Adele I” and “Apfelbaum I” to the Austrian National Gallery, Belvedere, in return for “Schloss Kammer,” which he sold to one of Klimt’s sons.

When Ferdinand died in 1945, he left his estate to his nieces and nephew, the children of Adele’s sister Therese: Robert, Louise and Maria. Robert had moved to Canada and changed his last name to Bentley.

litigation was initiated. however, she and her brother had collected and kept numerous letters and documents gathered over the previous 50 years, particularly up to 1958 when various lawyers were corresponding with the administrator of Ferdinand’s will, the probate estate and his heirs.

Restitution. After WW II, the Austrian government adopted the Annulment Act, which voided Nazi transactions during 1938 to 1945.

A family lawyer, Dr. Gustav Rinesh, without the consent of the heirs, agreed to the donation.

By 1998, a confluence of events brought the issue of confiscated property by the Nazis to the forefront. First, the Estate of Lea Bondi sued in New York and was successful in obtaining the return of “Portrait of Wally” by Egon Schiele.

on confiscated property during WW II. Finally, Hubertus Czernin, an Austrian journalist, began publishing articles about some of his investigations of stolen art and property.

Maria made claims under the Annulment Act, and they were rejected by the Restitution Committee in 1999, in part relying on the provision in Adele’s will. Maria challenged the rejection of her claim in Austrian courts but withdrew it because the filing fee was prohibitive.

It was reduced to $300,000 but was still too much for Maria.

Randal Schoenberg, of Burris & Schoenberg LLP in Los Angeles (who was played by Ryan Reynolds in the film), filed an historic case in U.S. Federal District Court for the Central District of California for his client Maria (played by Helen Mirren in the film).

The Federal District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied the objection.

Supreme Court on the defendant’s denial of a motion to dismiss on the pleadings and as such, the facts in the pleadings were presumed to be true as the Supreme Court justices analyzed the case.1. The focus of the ruling was primarily related to Section 1330(a) of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (FSIA)2 and to what extent a foreign state is entitled to immunity under FSIA or any applicable international agreement.

Maria sought a declaration that the Klimt paintings should be returned in accordance with the 1998 Austrian law. Her other claims were for replevin (or return) under California law and rescission of any agreements with the Austrian government due to mistake, duress and/or lack of authority from the heirs.

violation of international law. the imposition of a constructive trust.

and the disgorgement of profits under the California Unfair Business Practices Act.

The majority concurred with the district court, rejecting the argument that the actions of Austria and the Belvedere took place in 1948, that Austria at that time would have enjoyed absolute immunity from suit in the United States and that nothing in FSIA should create retroactive application. The court stated that foreign sovereign immunity was a “matter.

You will LOVE your art, or we will take it back — “60-Day Money Back” & “Free Return Shipping”. The only kind of love that can be guaranteed.

” That is what you are going to hear for the next 50 years. Your yellows will stay as yellow as the first day you hung your art.

Every item is made-to-order and assembled in-house by our team, using only premium materials..cuz we’re a little obsessed about art. All of our premium materials are sourced from the states, and then assembled at iCanvas, in Illinois.

All of our artwork comes gallery wrapped. The image is stretched around the sides and stapled to the back of the wooden frame.

The use of canvas stretcher bar keys is essential for preserving the visual appeal of canvas artwork, as they allow for the adjustment of canvas tension, which in turn guarantees a surface that is free of wrinkles. Stretcher keys are the preferred canvas stretching method by art professionals around the world as well as ours.

Mottled gold & silver frames are hard wood with a textured metallic finish. Silver pairs well with cool colors and dark backgrounds, while gold pairs particularly well with classic art, traditional décor, and warmer colors.

All of our artwork comes gallery wrapped. The image is stretched around the sides and stapled to the back of the wooden frame.

A little “armor for your art” that won‘t obscure the canvas. Your canvas print is gallery wrapped and mounted to a 2″ thick, elegant, black hard wood frame.

Black & white matte frames have a sleek lacquer finish and are versatile enough to pair with almost any piece of art. Mottled gold & silver frames are hard wood with a textured metallic finish.

Dark wood can look great with rustic, farmhouse, nature and photography prints. Presented on heavyweight (300 GSM) fine art paper with a distinct textured surface, using long-lasting ultra-chrome inks.

Acrylite clear-coat premium glazing reduces glare while maintaining a crystal clear view of your art. Your art will be well protected and easy to clean.

Black & white matte frames have a sleek lacquer finish and are versatile enough to pair with almost any piece of art. Mottled Gold has a textured metallic finish and pairs particularly well with classic art, traditional décor, and warmer colors.

The standard for precision and stunning color reproduction. The best quality canvas for texture and finish.

hand-stretched over 100% North American pine frames. Every item is made-to-order — printed, stretched, and stapled here, at iCanvas.

The Woman in Gold is a masterpiece from 2015. The film is based on an amazing true story and pays tribute to it on the big screen.

The movie chronicles her incredible story of resilience and fight for justice. In 1999, Altmann decided to take legal action to get back artworks that the Nazis had stolen, including this famous painting called Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt.

With Ryan Reynolds in the role of a determined young lawyer, Maria (Helen Mirren) goes on a years-long mission to find Gustav Klimt’s stolen masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. Directed by Simon Curtis, this intense drama tells a true story that blends the revival of the arts with the strength of the human soul.

Gustav Klimt’s famous painting, the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, from the movie Woman in Gold, has finally found a new home after its crazy journey. This artwork was stolen by the Nazis in World War II, but it went through a lot and came out differently.

Now, this masterpiece hangs in the fancy Neue Galerie in Manhattan. Instagram Post.

A Jewish refugee from Austria, who later became an American, Altmann’s legal fight against the Austrian government to get back Gustav Klimt’s famous masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (The Woman in Gold), is the main focus of the film. The impact of Maria Altmann can be seen through Klimt’s painting being displayed at the Neue Galerie in Manhattan, according to its official website.

Antje Traue does a great job bringing Adele to life from the canvas through flashbacks. Sadly, in the movie, Adele dies from meningitis in 1925, when she’s only 44 years old.

It’s all a way of giving context to her life. The painting was taken by the Nazis in 1938, following which they changed the name to Lady in Gold to erase its Jewish connection.

Woman in Gold is now streaming on Netflix.

1862-1918, Austrian painter, a famous representative of Viennese Art Nouveau. Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was already a renowned artist, influencing the Art Nouveau style of Vienna’s famous Ringstrasse with his murals and co-founding the Vienna Secession, when he created his “Golden Style”.

With his visual art, Klimt describes the path of life of human beings who, negatively influenced by instincts, find their redemption in the kiss. The depictions of the body convey a subtle eroticism, although their figures dissolve into ornamental and geometric colour surfaces.

This two-dimensional style is today the epitome of Klimt’s intensely coloured art, which, however, only characterises his work from 1905 onwards. Klimt was not only adept at gold and opulence but was also a brilliant draughtsman.

Mostly as preliminary studies for larger works. As a son of an engraver, Klimt learned his craft at Vienna‘s School of Applied Arts.

Together with his brother Ernst and Franz Matsch, the three young painters formed an artistic community and received numerous commissions to design new buildings on Vienna’s Ringstrasse. The staircases of Vienna’s Burgtheater or the Museum of Fine Arts bear witness to the historicist style of this collaborative team.

In 1897, together with other artists, he founded the “Wiener Secession”, which he presided over as president until his resignation in 1905. To this day, the Secession’s exhibition building remains a place and temple for new young art.

Another “jewellery around the world” post already. How time flies.

This month we decided to go completely gothic and shine a light on Austro-Hungarian jewellery history. Bewitching and beguiling, Austro-Hungarian jewellery is known as the epitome of ‘extra‘ with its larger-than-life gemstones and motifs.

The Austro-Hungarian empire dates between the 1860s to the 1920s and was one of the most powerful western empires in the world. Today, Austria and Hungary are two separate countries, with their own different identities and jewellery history.

I mean, just look at this necklace..

The Austro-Hungarian empire was one of the major European powers globally, second only to the British Empire.

In the mid 19th century, the Austrian empire (1804-1867) had depleted to become a weak state, especially after the Italian war of independence and the Austro-Prussian war. There was also increasing dissatisfaction in Hungary at the time, with the Hungarian revolution in 1848.

Plus, there was also a desire for a strong central government, especially as their neighbours of Italy and Germany were growing into two large powers.

The Austro-Hungarian empire was ruled by the house of Hapsburg. If you are a Renaissance history buff, it is likely that you recognise the Hapsburg name.

Centuries before, the Hapsburg’s governed the Holy Roman Empire, with its ancestors on the thrones of Spain, France and the Papacy. Although Austria-Hungary was ruled by one monarchy, it had two separate parliaments and presidents overruling each country.

This created a range of disparate identities and tensions that ultimately culminated in its demise.

Austria-Hungary was known for having a distinct military presence, as well as being at the forefront of industrialisation and trade. Because of this, Austria-Hungary had a rise of both urban middle and upper classes creating more spending power and thus, more jewellery.

The Austro-Hungarians were mainly a Roman Catholic and Eastern Catholic population, which was why Catholic motifs and symbols were widely celebrated in their jewellery designs. This Catholic rule also contrasted heavily with the predominantly Muslim state of Bosnia.

The Austro-Hungarian empire was at the centre of the outbreak of WWI with its archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated by a person within the “Young Bosnia” and Serbian “Black Hand” movement. Prior to this, both Bosnia and Herzegovina were annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908, as there was a revolt in Bosnia.

After the first world War when Germany was defeated, the Austro-Hungarian empire was dissolved, this was not only due to their defeat, but also their 1918 crop failures which lead to a range of economical problems within the country.

Austria-Hungary’s close proximity and alliance with Germany and Italy led to many overlapping jewellery influences, especially Renaissance revival and Holbeinesque. These techniques gave them an overtly Gothic look, fitting in perfectly with our Halloween month.

Why was Austro-Hungarian jewellery so incredibly grand. One of the main reasons was that Austria-Hungary was geographically placed in the belly of central Europe, neighbouring powerful military dominant countries like Italy and Germany.

Each country wanted to be the biggest and the best, which ultimately was one of subtle undercurrents as to why World War I broke out. Yet, it wasn’t just in economic and industrial achievements that these countries wanted to be recognised for, but also the culture, fashion and the jewellery.

At this point in the 19th century, nationalism was sweeping through Europe, with each country wanting to instil a sense of national pride. This had a big impact on the arts.

Austria-Hungary wanted to add to this, but as a country that was effectively two countries smushed together, it didn’t have the same sense of cemented national culture. With this in mind, they copied a lot of popular designs of the time, but they made them larger, bolder and more bodacious to cement them as a jewellery power and a fashionable place in Europe.

Austro-Hungarian Gold Diamond Pink Tourmaline Ruby and Baroque Pearl Pendant, Source – The Victoria and Albert Museum. One of these fashions were the aforementioned Holbeinesque jewellery which was very popular in Germany and the Catholic countries of France, Spain, Russia and Italy.

Holbeinesque literally meant “in the manner of Hans Holbein” who was one of the most prolific German portrait painters in the 16th century. These were mainly large droplet gemstone pendants and necklaces that were modelled on the jewellery portrayed in these Renaissance portraits and based on Holbein’s jewellery illustrations.

Holbeinesque Garnet Gold Enamel Pendant, c.1860-1865, Source – The Victoria and Albert Museum.

Holbeinesque characterised much of Austro-Hungarian jewellery. These pieces were highly-texturised, colourful and large, with mannerist and mythological ornamentation.

This style of jewellery was popular across Europe but was especially present within Austria-Hungary and Germany. These Austro-Hungarian designs also took inspiration from (or copied) a historic Transylvanian breast brooch called Hefteln which were large gemstone-set round brooches that were quenched with Enamel and small uncut gems.

16th Century German Mannerist Pendant, c.1550-1575, Source – The British Museum.

Another reason as to why Austro-Hungarian jewellery pieces were so large and bold was because of their two famous and fashionable cities Vienna and Budapest. Throughout Europe, costume balls, operas, ballets and theatrical events were incredibly popular amongst the ruling and upper classes, and of course, people had to wear jewellery that matched these events.

This meant that they were sought after destinations for the wealthy and elite, so they created these captivating jewels for people to wear them to the society events and also take them home as a keepsake.

Towards the end of the 19th century, Austria in particular was also becoming a centre for art and modernism. For instance the establishment of the Viennise Secessionists in 1897 by Gustav Klimt, Otto Wagner, Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffman sought to veer the artistic landscape away from this nationalism.

Although this was successful, and it is likely that many Austro-Hungarian jewellery artists followed this change and rejected the fantastical jewellery designs, the bold, vampirific and excessive designs of the former years had cemented themselves in Austro-Hungarian style and jewellery history.

Swarovski is one of the most famous fashion jewellery brands that exists today, and is of Austro-Hungarian heritage. Before Swarovski was founded in 1895, Austria-Hungary sourced its glass and paste jewellery from Bohemia which was an Eastern European centre for glass-cutting, yet, by World War I Austro-Hungary was soon to be the centre for glassmaking as Swarovski built their own glassworks factory in 1910.

For instance, crystals were huge in post-war Europe and were very fashionable in the 1920s. Swarovski tapped into the fashions of the time and created the first crystal embellished flapper headband which was a worldwide success as well as collaborating with world-famous couture designe.

Gustav Klimt has always been one of my favourite painters. There is something about his golden dreamlands that ensnares the senses.

I had seen it many times online and in books but seeing it in real life took my breath away. The amount of gold was staggering.

It truly did shimmer and shine when you looked at it. The couple in the centre almost lost within this mesmerizing kaleidoscope.

Klimt was a man who broke the rules and was somewhat of a rebel in the art community. He moved away from the standards of the time and found a like group of people who would transform the world of art forever.

Even today, his paintings stir something deep down inside of all us. Immersive Klimt takes the audience on a journey throughout the life of Gustav Klimt.

Depending on where you see the show, the ticket prices may vary slightly. Currently, the show is on in Toronto, but in 2022 it plans on touring the USA.

Weekends and evenings are $45-$55 CAD per adult. But on weekday afternoons, tickets are only $35.

The entire show lasts 35 minutes and is put on a loop. You are free to stay for as many loops of the show as you like.

It’s worth just sitting through the entire loop in one spot to take it all in. Then, for the second showing, walk around a bit.

Klimt went through so many different periods of his painting, and to see them all laid out together is an amazingly transformative experience. Over the years, Klimt’s popularity has become almost commercial.

His golden patterns find their way onto clothing and accessories. This mainstream accessibility is so surprising because during his lifetime he was deemed extremely controversial.

Lighthouse Immersive describes the period in which Klimt was working as an artist as “the height of the artistic revolution in Vienna that preceded the fall of an empire: pulsing with bombastic energy and the collision of the traditional and the modern.”. That energy can be felt throughout the show.

If you’ve never seen an immersive show before, the exhibition uses scans of the works of a certain artist and, using digital technology, animates and blends them together. These are then projected onto the walls of these wide-open spaces.

Either because they are spread out all over the world or some painting might even be held in private collections. I found this show to be the most experimental in the animations the team uses to project Klimt’s work onto the exhibition space walls.

The flashing lights at times felt like you were at a rave. I couldn’t help but feel this was how a contemporary audience could feel the same shock and awe that early 20th century audiences felt when they saw Klimt’s revolutionary work for the first time.

The dancers were nude, just as many of Klimt’s models, and danced to the sound of the music playing all around you. The group I went with were torn on this modern addition.

It felt like real-life passion that the works of Klimt’s are trying to project.

The team behind the exhibit really seemed to let their imagination run wild. But like with all of these immersive shows, it lacks context.

Plus, throughout the show, they also project artworks by Egon Schiele, Koloman Moser and images from Ravenna Cathedral. It’s important to understand these aren’t part of Klimt’s oeuvre.

Klimt himself is such a compelling character whose life impacted and affected his works so much. Hopefully, this blog will act as a primer to your visit to the Immersive Klimt Experience and allow you to better understand the moving nature of these transcendent works of art.

His father was Ernst Klimt, a gold engraver, and his mother, Anna, was an aspiring musical performer. Their household was filled with creative energy, and no doubt, Klimt was influenced by this from the day he was born.

Their poverty constantly resulted in them having to move to search out cheaper housing. One of Gustav’s sisters died in 1874, and soon after, another of his siblings was sent to a sanitorium.

The lack of medical treatment available to this impoverished family no doubt impacted their day-to-day lives. Despite all this, Ernst saw Gustav’s talent, as did his teachers.

So, in 1876 Gustav applied to enroll in the Viennese School of Arts and Crafts. He was only fourteen years old.

At school, he learned all the classical painting techniques. But they also taught their students how to work in other mediums.

All of which he would incorporate into this artwork later in life. Gustav’s love of folklore, mythology, and Slavic history would be ignited in school.

Klimt had his first chance at practical experience working in the creation of the artistry of the Ringstrasse. In 1858, Emperor Franz Joseph wanted to destroy all the old medieval defensive walls around the city.

He called this part of town the Ringstrasse (“ring street”) encircled the city. This was Vienna’s “Golden Age.” The Ringstrasse is the most popular loop for tourists to see all the best Viennese architecture even if you visit Vienna today.

During the Golden Age, research, science, and industry were all driven by modern advancements. And yet, the one aspect of culture which had yet to be redefined was art.

Klimt and his brother Ernst started up a small painting business, and their first commission was to paint the grand stairway of the new Burgtheater. Klimt called the paintings in series the “Allegories and Emblems.”.

So Klimt had to get friends and family to pose for the murals. Today, this is such a historical treat as we can still see Klimt’s sisters Hermine and Johanna’s faces set among the spectators in Shakespeare’s theatre.

Hidden in the audience is also the only surviving self-portrait of Gustav. Klimt never painted a self portrait so this is the only version of himself he ever made.

In quick successions, both Klimt’s beloved father and brother suddenly died. Klimt suddenly was charged with financially taking care of his family.

He poured all of his grief into his art, like many great artists before him.

The first large commission he took after the death of his family members was at the University of Vienna’s Great Hall. But Klimt wasn’t going into this commission like the others he had done.

His grief has sent him spiralling to find a new form of painting. He began employing a radical style filled with decorative symbolism.

A post shared by Your Daily Art View (@yourdailyartview). The images he was set to paint were supposed to represent Philosophy, Jurisprudence and Medicine.

Klimt’s grief and the loss left him jaded. In his depiction of Philosophy, he painted the great thinkers as just people who could not save man from despair.

Most importantly, Medicine could not save us from death. In addition to these controversial scenes, the women he portrayed in the scenes were all nude.

As a design firm, we care a lot about the arts and are always seeking out and immersing ourselves in artistic expression and inspiration (and even have our own arts collaborative). As a tight-knit office team who likes to have fun together, we also look forward to Halloween every year as a way to bring these two interests together through our annual pumpkin contest and creative themes.

Take a look and let us know which you recognize and then scroll even further to see the entries for the 2016 pumpkin contest. Happy Halloween.

Pretty fun, right. Let us know what theme you think we should do next year.

1st—Jake-o’-Lantern by Michelle2nd—Beldar Pumpkone Head by Carol3rd—Cubs Win. by Jim.

(Top left to right): The Orange Walker by John, Dreamworks Trolls by Jessica, Pac-Pumpkin by Denae(Bottom left to right): Beldar Pumpkone Head by Carol, Cubs Win. by Jim, Jake-o’-Lantern by Michelle.

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Imagine getting your portrait painted in the fifteenth century. You’d probably be part of a powerful dynasty or monarchy, commissioning the most talented artist to capture your beauty and grace.

When ambling around The National Portrait Gallery, I relish spotting the variety of incredible jewellery in paintings. From Botticelli’s religious masterpieces to Hockney’s modern portraits, the way artists – both past and present – portray jewellery is fascinating.

Today, we need only open Instagram to see into the lives of the elite. Our icons are on our doorstep.

They wait, two clicks away, eternally adored and ready for us to mimic their very existence. Trends in fashion manifest on the global platforms of our phone screens – the impenetrable archive of our virtual lives.

As we go back in time, history becomes increasingly reliant on other means: literature, legends, and paintings. Portraiture gives us an acute insight into the lives and customs of many historical figures.

The Girl With A Pearl Earring (c. 1665) is one of Vermeer’s most renowned works.

The vivid colours animate the female figure in the painting, who captivates viewers with her innocent yet penetrating stare. Through the plump and moist lips, Vermeer adds something rather sensual to his painting.

The painting has inspired both literature and films. Vermeer creates such a mysterious and enigmatic expression in his painting, which leaves viewers in a desperate fantasy trying to make sense of the hidden narrative.

This nineteenth century portrait of Empress Elisabeth of Austria exudes celestial magic. The empress’ gown is sprinkled with hundreds of hand cut foil stars amongst the layers of satin and tulle.

This particular portrait exemplifies the formalities of royal portraiture. The expression and pose of the empress is typical to the conventions of the era.

For many, the focal point of this painting is the diamond edelweiss pins adorning the empress’ hair. The floral, star-like pins represent the Austrian Alps and therefore serve a patriotic purpose.This portrait demonstrates the affluence of monarchy during this period.

Also known as the woman in gold, Klimt’s celebrated painting of Adele Bloch-Bauer is a jeweller’s paradise. Never before had gold been so lavishly and outlandishly used within a painting.

It is estimated that this portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer took four years to complete. Bloch-Bauer was a wealthy society woman in Vienna, and became acquainted with Klimt in the summer of 1903.

Little did Bloch-Bauer know that she would be immortalised through one of the most famous, and a decade ago, most expensive paintings in the world. The female form in this painting seems to emerge from a canvas saturated with diamonds and gold, making Bloch-Bauer’s jewellery feel delicate and understated.

Georges Barbier was a french illustrator during the fin-de-siecle. His artistic talents were utilised in many spheres, from fashion and jewellery design to book illustrations.

He was the mentor of a renowned circle of french illustrators, including Pierre Brissaud and Charles Martin. Incantation depicts Barbier’s renowned style.

Barbier illustrated many prints like Incantation for a number of these fashion magazines, including Vogue and Femina. The Art Deco style of the illustration showcases the glittering jewellery of the era, worn by the florid and elegantly dressed figures in the piece.

The powder blue gemstone drop earrings match the woman’s necklace, ring and even diamond belt in the illustration. To channel the Art Deco glamour presented within Barbier’s work, simply slip on Vanilo’s Macarena Cuff.

Henri Matisse left one of the greatest art legacies known to man. His incredible use of colour and form in his work earns him the title as one the leading impressionists of the twentieth century.

This 1920 painting was produced at the prime of his career. Matisse became acquainted with a young girl called Henriette Darricarrere who would be his artistic muse for almost the next decade.

Matisse mimics the strong and robust physicality of the dancer within the emphatic brushstrokes and horizontal colour blocks in the background. However, the almost delicately placed pearl necklace truly draws the viewer’s eye.

Frida Kahlo is one of the most influential feminist modern artists. Her work continually threads intersectional feminist narratives into contemporary dialogues, thus she leaves behind a legacy that surpasses the boundaries of her own time.

Photographs of the artist capture her love of accessories and jewellery, with energetic and statement jewels contrasting the sensitive soul that lay within. Kahlo’s Self Portrait Dedicated to Dr Eloesser is such an intriguing painting to examine.

However, the earring also references the Mexican ‘milagros’ tradition whereby wax forms shaped in body parts in need of healing were left on religious altars. The portrait pays homage to her doctor who treated Frida and her ailments, and therefore evokes the love and friendship between the two.

Author: Eve Parsons. Source: Jewelstreet.com.