Visitors from around the globe flock to Neue Galerie New York to see a very special lady, Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907), popularly referred to as the “Woman in Gold.” Few paintings have captured the public’s imagination so thoroughly. Klimt’s depiction of Adele Bloch-Bauer not only rendered her irresistible beauty and sensuality; its intricate ornamentation and exotic motifs heralded the dawn of modernity and a culture intent on radically forging a new identity.

Adele Bloch-Bauer possesses the rare distinction as being the only person Klimt ever painted twice in full-length portraits. She and her husband, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, assembled one of Vienna’s most renowned art collections, which included paintings by masters of Vienna’s Biedermeier period, modern sculpture, an impressive array of porcelain from the Royal Vienna Porcelain Factory, and a stellar group of works by Klimt, including the two portraits of Adele Bloch-Bauer and well as landscapes. The Klimt paintings originally hung in Adele’s private apartment in the couple’s Vienna home.

Klimt’s first portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer had initially been intended as a wedding anniversary present for her parents. But Klimt was notoriously slow in completing his portraits and it became clear that the intended gift would not be completed in time. He began work on the painting in 1903.

In December of that year, Klimt spent time in Ravenna, Italy, where he visited the sixth-century Church of San Vitale. He was deeply impressed by the richly decorated Byzantine mosaics of the Empress Theodora and described them as of “unprecedented splendor.” His first portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer incorporates jewel-like areas that resemble semi-precious stones and layers of lustrous gold and silver.

Klimt presents Adele Bloch-Bauer in an ambiguous position—it is unclear if she is standing or is seated in an armchair that is covered in sinuous spirals. A golden and highly ornamented halo surrounds her face. Her flushed cheeks and vivid red lips convey the sensuality of the woman behind the portrait. Adele Bloch-Bauer’s hands are clasped together in an unusual fashion to mask a disfigured finger about which she was extremely self-conscious.

Adele Bloch-Bauer is bedecked in precious jewelry, including a diamond choker, which had been a wedding present from her husband Ferdinand. (When the Nazis seized the Bloch-Bauer collection, this stunning necklace ended up in the possession of notorious Nazi leader Hermann Göring.) The form-fitting sheath she wears is adorned with all-seeing eye motifs set within golden triangles. The diaphanous cloak that surrounds her is studded with her initials “AB,” raised in low relief. The black and white trim at the lower left edge recalls decorative elements on pieces of furniture from Klimt’s studio that were fabricated by the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshops). The portrait has been called the greatest in the artist’s “golden style.”

History and provenance

This painting is revolutionary for both its timeless beauty and a provenance story that represents perseverance and justice. In 1938, the portrait was one of five Klimt paintings seized by the Nazis from the Bloch-Bauer's home. For decades, the masterpiece was displayed in Vienna where it was renamed “Woman in Gold” to conceal the sitter's identity. Over the course of decades, surviving heir Maria Altmann fought for the return of her family’s property.

In 2005, a panel hearing before the United States Supreme Court determined that the paintings were to be restituted to the heirs. This was a landmark restitution case. In 2006, Ronald S. Lauder acquired Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I for the Neue Galerie New York, and it has been on permanent view at the museum since, adhering to the wishes of the family.

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ADELE IN CONTEXT

Gustav Klimt’s masterpiece Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer I is permanently on view at Neue Galerie New York, where it hangs in the museum’s world renowned Klimt Gallery. This work is featured as part of “Austrian Masterworks from the Neue Galerie,” an ongoing exhibition that features a rotation of highlights from the museum’s extensive collection of Austrian art from the period 1890 to 1940.