
by Gustav Klimt, 1907
Private Sale / New York
June 18, 2006
Maria Altmann
Ronald Lauder / Neue Galerie
Gustav Klimt completed this portrait in 1907, depicting Adele Bloch-Bauer, the wife of a wealthy Viennese sugar magnate. The painting took three years to finish and represents the pinnacle of Klimt's golden period. Adele sits within an ornate field of gold leaf, her face and hands rendered realistically while her dress and surroundings dissolve into decorative patterns.
The Bloch-Bauer family commissioned this portrait and a second one, completed in 1912. During World War II, the Nazis seized both paintings along with other family assets. Adele had died in 1925, and her will requested the paintings go to the Austrian State Gallery. However, her husband Ferdinand, who survived the war and died in exile, left everything to his nephew and nieces.
After a lengthy legal battle, Maria Altmann recovered the painting in 2006 and sold it to cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder for $135 million. It now hangs permanently at the Neue Galerie in New York City.
Sold for $135 million in 2006, then the highest price ever paid for a painting.
New York, USA
1000 Fifth Avenue
Permanently housed

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Luxury wall art with the same mood and energy. Gallery-quality canvas, no museum crowds.
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