Portrait I of Adele Bloch-Bauer is perhaps one of the most widely known works by the Austrian artist Klimt, and you will certainly be familiar with it even if you have never seen the original in person.
Gustav Klimt / Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I/ 1907
The work is known as the "Mona Lisa of Austria". The woman in the painting is noble and elegant, but her eyes hide a trace of uneasiness. She is at the center of this essay:
Adele Bloch-Bauer
Adele in the 2015 film The Woman in Gold
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Adele's "Belle Epoque"
Adele is the only woman to be the protagonist of Klimt's full-body portrait twice, and for this important modern artist, she is undoubtedly a muse-like presence.
Klimt's 1901 work Judith and the Head of Holofloni may also be based on Adele
Born in 1881 to vienna's wealthiest jewish banker family, the "muse" was the youngest daughter of the family.
A photograph of Adele herself
When Adele was 15 years old, the sudden death of her brother who hurt her the most was a blow to the sensitive Adele, perhaps to forget the grief, and the young Adele longed to leave home.
Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer in the Hunt in the 1920s
At the age of 18, she married Ferdinand Bloch, a Jewish entrepreneur 17 years her senior. Ferdinand was very fond of his young wife, and they combined the surnames of the two families to become "Bloch-Bauer".
A pastel painting by Teresa Bauer hangs in the home of the Bloch-Bauer family, Teresa's husband is Ferdinand's brother, and they both take their wives to the house
Adele is not a traditional beauty, and her low-hanging dark eyes are always melancholy. This melancholy stems not only from the early death of her brother and her own sick body, but also from her experience of several miscarriages. She did not have children, and this regret also made her particularly fond of her sister's children, and she and Ferdinand later lived with her sister's family.
Bloch-Bauer's home in Vienna was a famous luxury residence of the time
Photographs of the Bloch-Bauer family in the 2006 documentary Adele's Last Will can be seen in a lot of artwork
Adele is unique. She was interested in philosophy, culture, and art, and studied extensively in German, French, and English.
A picture of Adele in the 2006 documentary Adele's Last Will, dressed in a fashionable white dress at the time
She was smart and stylish, unconstrained by stereotypes, and later became a "big smoking gun". It is common for her to wear a fashionable dress in white or all black, holding an elegant gold pipe, and swallowing clouds and spitting mist.
Sister Teresa and young daughter Maria Bloch-Bauer, Maria was Adele's most beloved little girl, and later married Fritz Alter
Adele was a celebrity in the Viennese art and culture circle at that time, and her thinking was advanced. She had a strong opinion of politics, and her sister's youngest daughter, Maria, later described Adele as a "socialist socialite."
Bloch-Bauer is an important collector of Viennese Biedermeier style paintings, and these two Biedermeier styles represent artist Ferdinand G
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Vienna was in the midst of a thriving "Belle Epoque", with many surprising changes in the art world. High-profile artist Egon Schiller and musician Arnold Schoenberg were regular visitors to the Adele family.
Adele's husband, Ferdinand, owns a collection of about 400 pieces of neoclassical antique porcelain, which had to be auctioned off in 1941
Adele doesn't like to pull the family routine, but she can talk to people about the latest social trends. She and Ferdinand were also prominent collectors and patrons of the arts at the time. They were the most important supporters of the artist Gustav Klimt.
Bloch-Bauer is located in the mansion of Prague
Klimt/Apple Tree/1912/2006 Christie's in New York sold for $33.056 million
Klimt lived in their mansion in Prague, and a colorful "Apple Tree" was probably created when he lived here.
Klimt's Beech Forest is a painting bought by Ferdinand in 1903 and fetched 40.336 million in Christie's in New York in November 2006
In 1903, Ferdinand commissioned Klimt to paint a portrait of the 25-year-old Adele. This young woman has prominent features, between the eyebrows are both avant-garde and bold, but also seems to hide the anxiety of the heart, she always covers a slightly deformed finger, the look and small movements are full of contradictions.
Klimt's sketches are also in the collection of the Bloch-Bauer family, and the last one in March 2017 was made for 218,500 euros
Perhaps it was this contradiction that fascinated the painter. Klimt spent four years visiting the Adele family and drawing a large number of drafts, which were finally completed in 1907.
Part of Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I
This extensive gold leaf portrait is a masterpiece of Klimt's "Golden Age". This is a style formed by Klimt's travels to Venice and Ravenna, inspired by ancient mosaics, in which gold is connected to a long history. The works of this period brought great fame to the painter, and when he was entrusted with paintings, the price could be worth a villa. The Bloch-Bauer family was one of the few families at the time who had the ability to collect Klimt.
Klimt /Castle III ate/1910/Was in the collection of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer
At the time, the relationship between Klimt and Adele was suspected to be unusual, but Maria, Adele's beloved, later said in an interview that the two had only platonic mutual appreciation.
Klimt's "Untrach and the House by Lake Atter" is also in the collection of the Bloch-Bauer family, which was sold at Christie's in New York in 2006
In 1925, at the age of 43, Adele died of illness. Ferdinand hung her portrait and a collection of 6 other Klimt paintings in her room as a memento of her beloved wife. Every Sunday that followed, Ferdinand, Adele's sister and brother-in-law's family would meet here, playing the cello and remembering the past.
A portrait of Adele in the movie Woman in Gold hangs above the mantelpiece
Adele may have been lucky. More than a decade later, the Austrian Jews of her generation either struggled in concentration camps or committed suicide after being looted. Slender Adele, at least before it all happens.
Adele never left
It's been more than 90 years since Adele's death, but she's been in the spotlight for the past decade and a great documentary film.
Klimt/Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II/1912
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Billion baby
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In 2006, Ronald Lauder, son of Estée Lauder, a wealthy Jewish man, bought Portrait one of Adele Bloch-Bauer for $135 million, the most expensive painting in the world at the time. Eleven years later, the work is still among the top 10 most expensive works of art in the world.
Two of Adele's portraits met briefly at the Neue Galerie in New York
In 2017, Adele Bloch-Bauer Portrait II from the American famous Oprah collection was sold to a Chinese collector for $150 million.
<h1 class="ql-align-center" > Woman in Gold
In 2015, the movie "Woman in Gold", which revolved around "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I", became a major hit that year.
In the movie Woman in Gold, Klimt is painting for Adele
The film is based on facts, from the robbery of Adele's gold-clad portrait by the Nazis, to the return to the Bloch-Bauer family, there is no deliberate sensationalism, but the trauma endured by this Jewish family pierces the viewer's heart through the screen, and once again, the story of Adele's life and death becomes the focus.
Maria Altman, formerly known as Maria Bloch-Bauer and Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. Mary was already in 2011
From 1998 to 2006, Adele's portrait was at the center of an international art restitution case, with an old lady on the prosecution and a country, Austria. This old lady was Mary.
In the film, Nazi officers knock on the door of the Bloch-Bauer family and take away their belongings
During World War II, Adele's portrait, numerous art and antique collections, and all the family's belongings were swept away by the Nazis.
According to Maria in a 2006 documentary, the necklace also has a pair of earrings that match it
When Maria was married, her uncle Ferdinand gave her the diamond necklace worn in Adele's painting.
There is also a scene in the film where Maria wears this diamond necklace when she gets married. Soon after, the newlyweds lost their belongings and faced a thrilling escape
But shortly after Maria returned from her honeymoon, the Nazis suddenly occupied Vienna. The necklace was taken away by Nazi officers and dedicated to Hermann Goering, the political leader of Nazi Germany and Hitler's "designated successor." According to sources, Goering's wife wore the necklace at the Nazi ball.
A clip of Goering's wife wearing a diamond necklace in the movie "The Woman in Gold", which is now difficult to trace after the war
The family collection of Krimmat masterpieces, which was exhibited in Berlin under Nazi rule, the name of the Jewish Adele was erased, and the work was given the name "Woman in Gold".
In 1938, the Nazis forced Viennese Jews to clean the streets in public. The property of high-society Jews, such as the Bloch-Bauer family, was listed by the Nazis
In fact, Adele did want to keep Klimt's masterpiece in Austria, and she also wanted to donate all her property to institutions such as orphanages. But she never imagined that her people would be slaughtered exterminate and her family would be torn apart.
In 1938, a Jewish house in Vienna was looted and left in ruins. The national hatred advocated by the Nazis intersected with the hatred of the people's wealth, and many of them were popular
Ferdinand later revised his will to leave the paintings and other collections to his descendants who fled to the United States. At this time, Ferdinand could not return to Vienna, nor could he contact any relatives, and died alone a few days after writing his will.
In 1945, the U.S. military found a large collection of Jewish art hidden by the Nazis in a Church in Germany. During the war, Hitler and Goering would follow their own
Ferdinand's will has never been known to her relatives. Adele's portrait remains in the Belvedere, glowing with gold, but its Jewish background is overshadowed by a thick haze.
In the film, Maria and her lawyer Randy Schoenberg (a descendant of the musician Arnold Schoenberg) finally win back Kerim after eight years of negotiations and lawsuits
Maria, the last relative to accompany Adele, tried to communicate and negotiate with the Austrian authorities in her 80s, but refused to budge. Eventually, Maria, along with her lawyer, took Austria to court.
In the late 1990s, archival material discovered by investigative journalist Hubertus Czernin showed that Adele's portrait and Bloch's—
In 2006, before Adele's portrait left, Vienna's subway and bus stops were plastered with posters of "Goodbye, Adele," and locals flocked to the art gallery to say goodbye to the masterpiece. Even though the whole of Austria clings to paintings, this time, Maria does not compromise.
"Goodbye, Adele" poster at the Vienna bus station in 2006
However, Mary simply did not have the financial resources to pay the costs associated with such a masterpiece. As soon as Adele's gold-clad portrait arrived in the United States, it was directly lent to the museum for display. Later, the work was sold to Ronald Lauder for $135 million, on the condition that the painting had to be shown to the public for a long time.
In 2006, Portrait one of Adele Bloch-Bauer entered the new art gallery co-founded by Ronald Lauder
Today, many people are still surprised by the high price of Adele's portrait, and it is easy to conclude that Maria went to recover the painting for money, and sold Adele's portrait quickly in order to cash out quickly, some people think that this sale took advantage of and tarnished the return of Adele's paintings, and some people think that the work should be donated to the museum free of charge. At the same time, it has been argued that how the collection is used as a legitimate owner is Maria's personal freedom.
As a result, for ordinary people outside the art industry, the sky-high price of paintings is undoubtedly more impressive. As people move forward, they will gradually forget the sufferings of the past, and the Adele in Klimt's paintings and everything represented in his works will inevitably be covered up by time. The high prices surrounding Adele are the beginning of understanding her for some and the key to controversy for others... So, what do you think when you see this?
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