Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II is a 1912 painting by Gustav Klimt.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II
ArtistGustav Klimt
Year1912
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions190 cm × 120 cm (75 in × 47 in)
LocationPrivate collection

Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881–1925) was a refined art-loving Viennese salon lady, a patron and close friend of Gustav Klimt.[1]

Ownership

Adele Bloch-Bauer was the wife of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer,[2] 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; she also appeared in the much more famous Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. 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. Altmann) ensued, which resulted in the two Adele Bloch-Bauer portraits and three other Gustav Klimt paintings being returned to Maria Altmann, the niece of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, in January 2006.

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.[3] The buyer was Oprah Winfrey.[4]

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.[5] During the summer of 2016, Oprah Winfrey sold it to an unidentified Chinese buyer for $150 million.[4] The painting was temporarily lent to Neue Galerie New York for the exhibition “Klimt and the Women of Vienna’s Golden Age, 1900–1918.” It will appear in the Chinese buyer's private museum after September 2017.[6]

See also

References
  1. Shapira, Elana (2009-03-01). "Adele Bloch-Bauer.". The Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. Retrieved 2014-10-24 – via Jewish Women's Archive.
  2. Born Ferdinand Bloch, the son of David Bloch (also known as Abraham Bloch), a banker and sugar factory owner, and his wife Marie, née Straschnow. Ferdinand married Adele Bauer, the daughter of Moritz Bauer (director of the Vienna bank Wiener Bankverein) and his wife Jeanette, née Honig.
  3. Christopher Michaud, "Christie's stages record art sale," Reuter's, November 9, 2006. Accessed November 9, 2006.
  4. Katya Kazakina (8 February 2017), Oprah Said to Snag $150 Million Selling Klimt to Chinese Buyer bloomberg.com.
  5. "MoMA | Now in the Galleries: Gustav Klimt's Adele Bloch-Bauer II".
  6. Benjamin Sutton (8 February 2017), Oprah Winfrey Sold Klimt Painting for $150M hyperallergic.com.

Notes
  • O'Connor, Anne-Marie (2012). The Lady in Gold, The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-307-26564-7.
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