What happens when you mix Nazi's, lawyers, cosmetics and art?
Based on history, usually nothing good results. However, there are exceptions, as told in the 2015 film Woman in Gold. The film tells the story of Maria Altmann and her long legal battle to recover a family treasure, a portrait of her Aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer, painted by Austrian Gustav Klimt. Like the possessions of many Jewish Austrian families, the Klimt painting was wrongfully taken in 1936 and ended up in a Vienna museum where it remained for 6 decades as a beloved national treasure of Austria.
Based on history, usually nothing good results. However, there are exceptions, as told in the 2015 film Woman in Gold. The film tells the story of Maria Altmann and her long legal battle to recover a family treasure, a portrait of her Aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer, painted by Austrian Gustav Klimt. Like the possessions of many Jewish Austrian families, the Klimt painting was wrongfully taken in 1936 and ended up in a Vienna museum where it remained for 6 decades as a beloved national treasure of Austria.
[Spoiler warning.] Fast forward half a century. The decade long legal battle ended in 2006 with the painting being awarded to Maria Altmann. After receiving the painting, Ms. Altmann sold the painting for $135M to billionaire Ronald Lauder (younger son of Estee Lauder) for the Neue Galerie New York.
The Neue Galerie New York: The museum, established in 2001 and located along Museum Mile in NYC, is dedicated to Austrian and German art. Ronald Lauder is the museum's co-founder and principal patron. (Neue is pronounced like Goya.)
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| Neue Galerie New York (exterior), corner of Fifth Avenue and 86th Street (a former home of a member of the Vanderbilt family) |
Putting aside the genuine controversy surrounding the painting, Klimt's painting is a masterpiece. Viewing it in person was a wonderful experience. Photography cannot capture the color, warmth, texture and depth of the painting. It was worth waiting in a long line, in the rain, to view it.
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| Adele Bloch-Bauer I, aka The Woman in Gold, Gustav Klimt (1907) |
There is more Klimt artwork elsewhere in NYC.
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| Adele Bloch-Bauer II, Gustav Klimt (1912) (on display at MoMA) (recovered with Adele Bloch-Bauer I) |
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| Serena Pulitzer Lederer, Gustav Klimt (1899) (on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art) |
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| Mada Primavesi, Gustav Klimt (1912) |
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| The Scream, Edvard Munch (1895) (one of four originals) |
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