The unusual fate of the "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer" - one of the most expensive paintings by Gustav Klimt. "Golden Adele

A rich Jew finds out that his wife is cheating with an artist. He orders a portrait of his wife from a rival for a huge sum. 4 years for sketches. Result: great picture. Although love, of course, has passed.

What moral could there be to a story involving Adolf Hitler, $135 million, George W. Bush, the genius Gustav Klimt, the femme fatale Adele Bloch Bauer, the US government and the people of Austria.

There is no morality, but there is pursuit and sacrifice, betrayal and revenge, love and hate. You probably already guessed that we are talking about the painting by Gustav Klimt "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer" or "Golden Adele", this painting is also called the "Austrian Mona Lisa".

And it all started like this:

1904 Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer walked along the paved sidewalk, whistling a cheerful tune, waving his cane, sometimes stopping and bowing politely to the gentlemen he met.

He has already decided everything for himself. At first, of course, he wanted to kill her, but in Jewish families it is not customary to kill wives for treason. He also could not get a divorce, in Jewish families it is not customary to get a divorce. Especially in such families as he and his wife Adele - in the elite families of the Austrian Jewish diaspora. In such families, marriage unions are concluded forever. Money must go to money, capital to capital. This marriage was approved by parents on both sides. Adele's father, Moritz Bauer, a major banker, Chairman of the Association of Austrian Bankers, was looking for worthy suitors for his daughters for a long time, and chose the brothers Ferdinand and Gustav Bloch, who were engaged in sugar production and had several enterprises whose shares were constantly growing.

All of Vienna feasted at the wedding, and after the merger of capital, both families became Bloch-Bauers. And now the largest sugar factory in Europe, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, walked along the pavement and felt branched horns growing on his head, under a luxurious satin top hat. Only the lazy did not discuss stormy romance his wife Adele and the painter Gustav Klimt. He did not sleep for many nights in a row, he lay and stared into the darkness until he came up with his revenge. Adelke… So he called her, not Adele, but Adelka.

Adele Bloch Bauer.

Although he was not as educated and well-read as Adele, he also knew something, and could know, for example, that the ancient Indians, in order to separate the lovers, chained them to each other and kept them together until they began to hate each other. friend as much as recently loved.

This idea came to him in a dream. He will order him (Klimt) a portrait of Adele! And let Klimt make 100 sketches until he starts to turn out of her. He will not be able to for a long time, he needs to change models, mistresses, concubines, women surrounding him, otherwise he will suffocate. No wonder he is credited with fourteen illegitimate children. Let him paint this portrait for several years! And let Adelka see how Klimt's feelings fade away. Let him understand for whom she exchanged him, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer! And they can't be separated. The contract is serious business. And in the contract, a fine exceeding the amount of the contract ten times. Ferdinand can easily bankrupt Klimt.

Emilia Flöge and Gustav Klimt

He dreamed that his sugar empire fell apart into small sugar pieces and the little men took everything to their little minks, and he was left with only a portrait of his wife Adele. Ferdinand decided to order a portrait of Adele from Klimt and call the painting "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer", thus perpetuating his last name.

Caressed by the authorities, Klimt was a very fashionable and sought-after artist, and his paintings were a good investment, and Ferdinand understood this very well. For a few recent years Klimt and his brother traveled all over the country, decorating the mineral water pavilion in Karlsbad, the capital's Burgtheater, or the villa of Empress Sissi. At twenty-six, Klimt received the Golden Order of Merit, at twenty-eight, the Imperial Prize.

Therefore, Ferdinand very carefully prepared a contract with Klimt, his best lawyers dealt with this issue, and now it was important that Klimt sign the papers.

When Ferdinand came home, Adele was reclining on the couch in the living room and smoking, as usual, a cigarillo in a mouthpiece. She loved apple tobacco. Her slim, lithe figure resembled a panther on vacation, she was so graceful. Fine features and dark hair were good. Adele is used to happy "doing nothing". She grew up in a very wealthy family, surrounded by an army of servants. In those days, for some reason, girls could not study at the university, but Adele's parents gave her a good home education. Adele was a very romantic lady, she read the classics in four languages ​​and in an amazing way combined the sickly airy fragility with the proud arrogance of a millionaire. In marriage, Adele entertained herself with the maintenance of a fashionable salon, where poets, artists and all color gathered. secular society Vienna. There they met Gustav.

Adele Bloch Bauer.

Walking into the living room, Ferdinand invited Adele to change, as he had invited Klimt to dinner. At the mention of Klimt, Adele flared up, and this did not escape her husband's eyes. Gustav Klimt arrived without delay, just in case, taking with him a frame for the picture. Very interesting, but he always started with the frame. His brother made a beautiful frame, and Klimt inscribed his masterpiece there. The dinner passed quietly, except for the fact that Gustav and Adele stubbornly refused to look at each other. Ferdinand, on the contrary, was cheerful and constantly joked.

After dinner, the three of them gathered in the living room. And between them there was approximately such a dialogue.

Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer

Ferdinand(officially):

Mr Klimt! You probably already guessed that I invited you to place an order and therefore brought a stretcher with me? I would like to commission you an unusual portrait of my wife Adele.

Klimt: - Why should it be unusual?
Ferdinand:- The fact that should last at least several centuries!
Klimt(interested): - Interesting, interesting ... several centuries. Don't know. It is interesting for me to depict the most important points of a person's life: Conception, Pregnancy, Birth, Youth, Noon of Life, Old Age..

Ferdinand: - But the Bible was written by people, Sistine Madonna a man painted and these works live for centuries! So you make a portrait of my wife, like the Madonna of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and let this portrait live for centuries!
Klimt:- You put before me a very difficult task!

Ferdinand:- And we're not in a hurry. I will pay you a good advance so that you do not think about money.
Klimt:- Such a picture may require additional costs.
Ferdinand:- For example?
Klimt:- For example, I would like to trim the dress with gold plates ...
Ferdinand:- If you are going to decorate my wife's dress with gold, and draw attention to the bottom of the picture, then I will buy a necklace in the hope of drawing attention to the top of the picture.
Adele(ironically): - Now you have already divided all of me. All I have to do is “fold my arms over my chest” to draw attention to the middle part of the picture.

Collector's coin with a fragment of "Adele" with a face value of 50 euros. Market value 505 euros.

Ferdinand:- I would like the portrait of my wife not to contain naked places, like your portrait of Judith.

Klimt:- Of course. I will make a sketch, and only after your approval will I start the main work.

Seeing the amount of the contract, Gustav Klimt signed it without even reading it. Of course, he suspected that he was a brilliant artist, but the price that Ferdinand offered him simply stunned him.

About a hundred sketches were written by Klimt for this portrait. And finished work on it in four years.

Ferdinand was pleased. The picture was finished (and after all, many paintings remained unfinished) and fully corresponded to his plan. She and Adele hung it in the living room of their Vienna home.

Obviously, the relationship between Klimt and Adele gradually faded away. Some time after the start of work on the painting, Adele fell ill and Klimt had to take long breaks from work.

Adele was sick, and at the same time smoked a lot, most often spending the whole day without getting out of bed. God never gave them children with Ferdinand. She tried to give birth three times and each time the children died. All my unspent maternal love Adele transferred her sister's children to her children, highlighting her niece Maria Bloch-Bauer. Maria often came to sit with her sick aunt, they discussed the latest fashion trends and styles of dresses for Maria's first ball. As well as paintings by the artist Klimt, of which there are already more than ten pieces in the house of Adele and Ferdinand.

Ferdinand spent his time devoting it to his work in his sugar empire. He never told Adele that he knew about her relationship with Gustav.

As time went on, the First World War was approaching. The "golden period" in Klimt's life ended, giving way to depressing paintings depicting death and the end of the world. Klimt endured the events taking place in the world very hard. The war had a devastating effect on him. And at the age of 52, in 1918, Klimt died suddenly from a stroke in his studio, in the arms of his eternal companion Emilia Flege.

Adele survived him by seven years, and died in 1925, having died quietly after meningitis. Before her death, Adele asked Ferdinand to bequeath three paintings, including "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer" the Vienna Museum Gazebo.

Ferdinand lived alone, his life getting harder and harder as Austria became part of Germany in 1938 and the Nazis began hunting down Austrian Jews. In the same year, Ferdinand managed to escape to Switzerland, leaving all his property in the care of his brother's family.

The picture remained in the living room, the Second World War was approaching.

Gustav Bloch-Bauee, Ferdinand's brother, was the husband of Adele's sister. There were five children in their family, the same Maria who visited Adele during her illness was the youngest. Oddly enough, they lived very modestly, dressed simply and the children were allowed only the cheapest Italian ice cream. Outside of the family sugar business, Maria's father was a good musician and friend of Rothschild, who brought a Stradivarius cello to their house, and then almost everyone who was not indifferent to high art Vein.

When Maria was a teenager, she had a tender friendship with Alois Kunst, from the gymnasium, which was not far from the one where she studied. She often invited him to her aunt Adele's house and they looked at the painting together. Maria even invited Alois to her first ball. And this meant that Alois was introduced and approved by Maria's parents, who considered him a cultured and educated young man. And Aunt Adele allowed Maria to put on her diamond necklace, in which she posed for Klimt. And Maria remembered this ball for the rest of her life. And with Alois, they knew that the painting had its own secret. If you look at Adele under certain angle, and make a wish, then by the corners of the lips you can determine whether Adele is smiling or frowning. If he smiles, then the wish will come true.

Gustav Klimt "Dancer" 1916-1918.

But Maria married another. Frederick Altman was opera singer, the son of a major industrialist. Money to money, capital to capital. Apparently, his parents were more affluent. They married in 1938, on the eve of the German invasion of Austria. But, despite the arranged marriage, Maria loved her husband very much and lived with him all her life. The famous diamond necklace, in which Adele Bloch-Bauer posed for Gustav Klimt, was given to her by her uncle Ferdinand as a wedding gift.

When the Nazis began hunting Austrian Jews, her uncle Ferdinand fled to Switzerland, and her husband, Frederick, was captured and sent to the Gestapo. A little later, he ended up in a concentration camp at Dachau, where thousands of Jews turned into black smoke after handing over all their property to the German authorities. The Gestapo broke into Maria's house in Vienna and took away all the jewelry, the Stradivarius cello, and simply put Adele's diamond necklace in a bag (there were eyewitnesses that Heinrich Himmler's wife later appeared in public several times in this necklace). Maria spared nothing and immediately signed all the necessary papers, in which she refused all movable and immovable property, she was ready to do everything just to save her husband from death.

Dachau concentration camp

Maria was waiting for the "Golden Adele" to be taken away from day to day. She was almost not surprised when her school friend Alois Kunst came for the painting, accompanied by a Gestapo detachment. Kunst collaborated with the Nazis, collecting for them a collection of paintings, some of which ended up in the hiding places and cellars of the Third Reich. When she asked how he could become a traitor, he said that he could do so much more for Austria that way.

Adolf Hitler, it turns out, had a positive attitude towards the work of Gustav Klimt. It is not advertised anywhere, but it turns out that they met with Klimt when Hitler tried to enter the Academy of Painting in Vienna. And Klimt was already an honorary professor of this academy. At that time, Hitler made his living by drawing small pictures of views of Vienna and selling them to tourists in restaurants and taverns. So he came to Klimt to show his work, and maybe take a few painting lessons. And Klimt, out of the kindness of his heart, announced to Hitler that he was a genius and he did not need to take lessons. Hitler left Klimt very pleased, and told his friends that Klimt himself recognized him. Hitler never entered the Academy of Painting, instead they took Oskar Kokoschka, a Jew by nationality. Maybe that's why Hitler once said that his hatred of the Jews is purely personal.

Paintings by Adolf Hitler.

But this hatred did not touch Klimt's paintings, they were ordered to be protected, despite the Jewish origin of the author.

When the "Golden Adele" left her home, the Fuhrer did not accept her into his collection, Adele was an outspoken Jew, and, as you yourself understand, such a picture could not hang in any way in the Reichstag or in other places of Nazi Germany. That is why, it is worth focusing on the appearance of Adele Bloch-Bauer. The appearance of the model saved the picture from death. The picture is gone. No one knows where the portrait of Adele was all the war years.

Carefully kept... by Alois Kunst, in perfect condition, she surfaced after the end of the war and settled in the central Belvedere Museum in Vienna. And Alois Kunst became the director of this museum and continued to carefully preserve the relic - the "Austrian Mona Lisa", his beloved Adele.

Belvedere Museum, Vienna.

Ferdinand Bloch Bauer died in November 1945, all alone. And none of the relatives could see him on his last journey.

Maria and her husband were lucky, because Altman's acquaintance was an investigator in the Gestapo, with whom Frederick was engaged in mountaineering and once saved him, pulling him out of the abyss. They ran on forged documents. The Gestapo pursued them. Maria recalled how in a plane that was flying from Vienna to London and had already taxied to the runway, the engines suddenly turned off and armed Gestapo men with machine guns entered. The Altmans sat clutching their chairs, they thought it was behind them. But no, they took someone else out. Maria Altman carefully kept the torn stockings in which she and her husband climbed over the barbed wire. She considered them a symbol of her freedom. The Altmans moved first to England and then to the USA. After some time, Maria received American citizenship.

Everything was calm until the stubborn journalist Hubertus Chernin dug up the will of Ferdinand Bloch Bauer, left before his death in Switzerland, which canceled all his previous wills. In this will, Ferdinand bequeathed all his property to his nephews, the children of Gustav Bloch Bauer's brother. Capital, in his opinion, had to work for the family. At that time, only Maria remained alive, and she was already over 80 years old. But Hubertus understood that it was his finest hour. Despite his county origin, he was poor, but loved to live in a big way. He understood that the American millionaire would pay a good amount for such information. And so it happened. Mary considered herself an eternal debtor to him.

Restitution lawyer Randol Schoenberg, at left, with -heiress Marie Altmann (r.); between them, Adele Bloch Bauer, as Klimt might have sketched her for his famous painting, Die Dame in Gold | Illustration: Katharina Klein

All Austria was alarmed like a hornet's nest! The headlines of the Austrian newspapers screamed: "Austria loses its relic!!!", "We will not give America our national treasure!!!". Threats rained down on the police that the painting would be destroyed, but would not go to America. In the end, the directorate of the museum decided to remove the "Golden Adele", out of harm's way, into the storerooms.

Surprisingly, George W. Bush, using some of his leverage, did not move the case about the paintings. He absolutely did not want to spoil relations with the Austrians. Maria Altman fought for her property for seven long years. The courts were engaged in replies and came up with reasons not to consider this case. But Maria's lawyers conducted an investigation and found out that Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer had Czech citizenship and managed to achieve the transfer of the court hearing to the United States, since on paper the US citizen asked to legalize the will of a Czech citizen. And what about Austria, they asked?

And Austria turned out to be nothing to do with it. And by decision Supreme Court USA Austria was obliged to return five paintings by Gustav Klimt, including "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer" to the legitimate heiress - Maria Altman.

Four paintings that were returned to Maria Altman along with "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer"

Clockwise: " Birch Grove.1903", "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer-2, 1912", "Houses in Unterach near Attersee, 1916", "Apple Tree I, 1912"

Maria was happy and did not insist that the paintings leave Austria. She asked to be paid to her market value. A price was set for all five paintings at $155 million. Such an amount was unbearable for the Austrian Ministry of Culture.

All of Austria came to the defense of the "Golden Adele". Austria has taken measures unprecedented in the history of the state to save national treasure. Negotiations were underway with banks for a loan to buy paintings. In addition, the country's government turned to the population with a request for help, intending to issue "Klimt bonds". The public announced a fundraising subscription. Donations began to arrive, and not only from the Austrians. The Austrian government has almost collected the required amount.

The excitement raised around the paintings inflated their market value and Maria decided to raise the price to 300 million dollars. Maria Altmann had a rare chance to enter the history of Austria by showing nobility and leaving Klimt's paintings in his homeland. Certainly not free of charge, and the initial estimate of $155 million was seen in Austria as fair compensation.

Thousands of Vienna residents came to conduct the "Golden Adele", people came from all over Austria. Crowds of people lined the streets along which the relics were taken out in armored vehicles. Some people were crying. No joke, the Portrait of Adele has been a symbol of Austria for almost 100 years.

After some time, for 135 million dollars, Maria Altman sold the "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer"To Ronald Lauder, the owner of the perfume concern" Esty Lauder ". Ronald Lauder built a new house for the Golden Adele, which was called the "Museum of Austrian and German Art" And now the painting is there in complete safety.

The journalist Hubertus Chernin was never able to use the money he received from Maria Altman, because he died four months after the removal of Klimt's paintings. The official version of the police "heart attack."

Maria Altman died in 2011 at the age of 94.

Maria Altman herself! Against the background of a real painting "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer"

Just imagine, this elderly woman saw the real live Adele Bloch-Bauer, her husband Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer. True, she was only two years old when Klimt died. But looking at it, you feel the full reality of the events that have taken place - the incredible story of a great picture.

Golden Adele is very popular in the world.

She writes poetry:

From what distant lands unknown to me
Have you entered my life, golden Adele?
Your neck is bent, your lips are rosanel -
Everything is so wonderful in you, golden Adele...

Your saddened eyes sweet hops
Wounds the soul with a forgotten dream, ma Belle,
And kink gentle hands, and blush pastel -
Everything is only you, only you - golden Adele ...

You are sitting on the throne as a queen ... Really
Your short life is like a seesaw
Will it flash, wisely meeting a fatal goal?
Wait a minute! Be with me, golden Adele...

They replicate it as best they can.

All participants in the events went to another world, and Golden Adele is alive and will live for centuries, as Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer wanted.

P.S. If you want, there is a good selection of paintings and sketches by Klimt, 417 works. Only there "Kiss" with open eyes. We cannot explain it.

The history of the painting, known to the whole world as "Golden Adele" or " Austrian mona Lisa”, can be called a detective. The reason for its creation was the husband's revenge for his wife's love affair with the artist Gustav Klimt, the painting remained intact during the Second World War, and in the post-war period "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer" became the subject of contention between Austria and the United States.

Adele Bloch-Bauer

In 1904, the sugar refiner Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer found out about his wife's infidelity. All Vienna was talking about the affair between Adele and the artist Gustav Klimt. He found in love affairs an inexhaustible source of inspiration, his many hobbies were widely known. And so that the rival would quickly get fed up and leave his mistress, Adele's husband came up with an original way: he ordered Klimt a large portrait of his wife, in the hope that by posing and being too often next to the artist, she would quickly get bored with him.

Gustav Klimt

Ferdinand approached the issue of drawing up a contract with all seriousness: he knew that Klimt was a sought-after artist, and his paintings were profitable investment capital. In addition, in this way he would be able to perpetuate his last name.

G. Klimt. Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907

Adele Bloch-Bauer was the mistress of a fashion salon where poets, artists and other representatives of the creative elite of Vienna gathered. Here is how her niece Maria Altman recalled her: “Suffering, constantly suffering from a headache, smoking like a steam locomotive, terribly tender and languid. Soulful face, smug and elegant.

G. Klimt. Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II, 1912

The artist agreed to the proposal to paint a portrait of Adele. The amount of the reward was very decent. Klimt worked for 4 years, during which time he created about 100 sketches and the famous Golden Adele. If the artist and the model had some kind of relationship, then during this time they really stopped.

G. Klimt. Sketches for a portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer

In 1918, at the age of 52, Klimt died. Adele outlived him by 7 years. Before her death, she asked her husband to bequeath three paintings, including her portrait, to the Belvedere Museum. Until 1918, the portrait was at the disposal of the Bloch-Bauer family, and from 1918 to 1921. - in the Austrian state gallery. In 1938, Austria became part of Nazi Germany. Because of the beginning of the Jewish pogroms, Ferdinand had to leave his home and all his property and flee to Switzerland.

Gustav Klimt

During the war, the collection was confiscated by Germany and transferred to the Austrian gallery. because of Jewish origin the author and the models, these canvases did not fall into the collection of the Fuhrer, but still they were not destroyed. Allegedly, Hitler met with Klimt back in those days when he tried to enter the Academy of Painting in Vienna, and he positively assessed his work. However, there is no reliable evidence of this.

Gustav Klimt

G. Klimt. Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907. Detail

After the war, the "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer" ended up in the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, and would have stayed there until now, but one day the will of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer was discovered, in which he bequeathed all his property to his nephews - the children of his brother. At that time, only Maria Altman remained alive, who fled to the United States during the war and received American citizenship. Litigation lasted 7 years, after which Mary's right to own five paintings by Gustav Klimt, including the Golden Adele, was nevertheless recognized.

Maria Altman and famous portrait her aunt Adele

Then all of Austria was alarmed. Newspapers came out with headlines: "Austria loses its relic!", "We will not give America our national treasure!". But it still had to be done. Maria agreed to leave the paintings in Austria if she was paid their market value - 300 million dollars! But this amount was too large, and the paintings went to the United States, where they were bought for $ 135 million from the heiress Ronald Lauder for his gallery in New York. The Austrians are now content only with souvenirs with images of Adele Bloch-Bauer.

All of Austria said goodbye to its national relic

Films about Gustav Klimt:

-Klimt (2006)

The film is about Gustav Klimt's passion for Lia de Castro. The story unfolds like an intricate mosaic of the delirium of an already dying artist.

- Woman in Gold (2015)

The story of Maria Altmann, who is trying to achieve justice - to return the values ​​\u200b\u200btaken from her family by the Nazis several decades ago. Among cultural heritage women famous picture Gustav Klimt "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer"

- Bride of the Wind (2001)

About the painting by Oskar Kokoschka "Bride of the Wind" and his romance with Alma Mahler. Klimt flashed here a couple of times

Gustav Klimt. Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907

This story involves: Gustav Klimt, the femme fatale Adele Bloch-Bauer, a painting worth 135 million dollars, niece Maria Altman, the US government and Austria.

ABOUT THE MODEL AND THE ARTIST

Let's get to know Adele Bloch-Bauer.

Adele's father, Moritz Bauer, a major banker, Chairman of the Association of Austrian Bankers, was looking for worthy suitors for his daughters for a long time, and chose the brothers Ferdinand and Gustav Bloch, who were engaged in sugar production and had several enterprises whose shares were constantly growing.

Adele Bauer in 1899, being 18 years old, married the much older Ferdinand Bloch. Prior to that, her sister Maria married the brother of Ferdinand Bloch - Gustav. Both families took the surname Bloch-Bauer.

Maria Altman, niece and heiress of Adele Bloch-Bauer, described her aunt as follows: “Constantly suffering from a headache, smoking like a steam locomotive, terribly tender and languid. A soulful face, self-satisfied and elegant.” Ferdinand and Adele's family belonged to a select layer of the big Jewish bourgeoisie of that period.

Painters, writers and such famous social democrats as Karl Renner and Julius Tandler gathered in their salon. Gustav Klimt was also among the artists who were supported by the Bloch-Bauer family.
Their friendship began in 1899. Adele Bloch-Bauer became a model for paintings by Gustav Klimt four times and did not suspect that in addition to world fame, her name would also be involved in a scandal.

Already in 1901, Klimt wrote "Judith I", for which Adele Bloch-Bauer herself served as a model, although this fact was not advertised anywhere. Eight years later, Klimt wrote Judith II. Both paintings are the embodiments of Klimt's femme fatale. His Judith is not a biblical heroine, but rather a Viennese contemporary of his, as evidenced by her fashionable, perhaps expensive neckpiece.

The picture "Judith II" is often called "Salome" in catalogs and magazines. Art critics were sure that Klimt had in mind Salome, a typical femme fatale, about which books and canvases by Gustave Moreau, Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley, Franz von Stuck and Max Klinger were published at the end of the century.

Klimt's friend Alfred Bass wrote in his diary: “When I saw Gustav's Salome, I realized that all the women I knew so far were not real. When I saw his "Kiss" - I realized that I never really loved. When I saw the sketch for "Judith" - I realized the worst thing is that I did not live at all, and if I did, it was an unreal life "

INTERESTING VERSION

They say that the husband knew about the relationship of his wife Adele with Gustav Klimt and, when signing a contract for a new painting, he put several conditions, including
for the artist to draw 100 sketches. Ferdinand hoped that Adele would get tired of Klimt with such a long posing. Like it or not, he was right.

In 1903, Klimt received an order from Ferdinand Bloch for an official portrait of his wife. Over the next four years, the artist created more than 100 sketches for the painting, before in 1907 he was able to present to the public his "Golden Adele", on which the model was 26 years old. The artist came up with the idea for the painting right away, and it took one hundred sketches to accurately determine the position hands and head. This portrait, often referred to as the "Austrian Mona Lisa", is considered one of Klimt's most significant paintings.

LET'S LOOK CLOSER GOLDEN ADELE

An elegant female figure sits in a chair. free space there is no above and below it, it occupies the entire vertical of the picture. The image of the head appears to be cut off at the top. Black, pulled up hair and a disproportionately large red mouth contrast with extremely pale, almost blue-white skin.

The woman holds her hands clasped in a dynamic curve in front of her chest and looks directly at the viewer, thereby enhancing the visual impact. A shawl is thrown over the figure-hugging dress. It flows, expanding from the hands to the lower edge of the picture. Gold tones also predominate here. The neckline of the dress is decorated with a thin border of rectangles and a wide stripe with a double row of triangles.

Then a pattern of randomly arranged stylized eyes inscribed in triangles was used. A cape with an ornament of spirals, leaf shapes and barely marked folds seems a little lighter than a dress.

They say that Klimt painted his portraits from nude models, and only then covered the bodies with flat ornamental clothes. Perhaps so, but what the Puritan public called "perversion" literally oozes from this canvas. But at the same time, the artist accurately depicted a young woman, tired of her own respectability, from rich life turned into a golden cage and wants to break free.

Only the face, shoulders and arms were depicted naturally. The interior, together with the flowing dress and furniture, is only marked and, turning into an ornament, they become abstract, which corresponded to the color palette and forms that Klimt used at the turn of the century.
The armchair, also golden, stands out against the general background only thanks to the pattern of spirals - it completely lacks any shadows, halftones or contours. A small light green fragment of the floor brings a color accent to the overall range and helps to give stability to the figure.
In 1912, the artist paints another portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.

THE FATE OF THE PICTURE

Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer acquired in addition to the first "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" and the second - "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II", as well as four more landscapes: "Birch Grove", "Kammer Castle on Lake Attersee III" "Apple Tree I" , "Houses in Unterach am Attersee".

The finished “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” in 1907 was immediately exhibited in the artist’s studio in Vienna and appeared in the same year in the magazine “ german art and scenery", and then on the international art exhibition in Mannheim.

In 1910, the portrait was in the Klimt Hall as part of the IX international exposition in Venice. Until 1918, the portrait was not exhibited and was at the disposal of Ferdinand and Adele Bloch-Bauer. From 1918 to 1921 - in the Austrian State Gallery.

Adele Bloch-Bauer died on January 24, 1925, leaving a will in which she asked her husband to transfer two of her portraits and four landscapes by Gustav Klimt to the Austrian State Gallery after his death. But he did not, transferring only one landscape to the Austrian gallery.

During the war, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer fled first to Czechoslovakia and then to Switzerland. Pictures along with for the most part his fortunes remained in Austria. His fortune and art collection were expropriated by the Nazis. In 1941, the Austrian gallery bought Klimt's paintings "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" and "Apple Tree I"

Adolf Hitler had a positive attitude towards the work of Gustav Klimt. They met with Klimt when Hitler was trying to enter the Academy of Painting in Vienna. Then Klimt was already an honorary professor of this academy. At that time, Hitler made his living by drawing small pictures of views of Vienna and selling them to tourists in restaurants and taverns.

Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer died on November 13, 1945 in Zurich. Before his death, he canceled in his will the donation of paintings to Austrian museums. Since Ferdinand and Adele had no children, Ferdinand appointed his brother's children, Maria Altman, Louise Gutmann and Robert Bentley, as heirs. Shortly before his death, he hired the Viennese lawyer Rinesh to protect the interests of the heirs.

In 1946, Austria declared all legal acts created by the Nazis invalid. However, when returning art treasures confiscated by the Nazis to their owners, Austria used the tactics of voluntarily-compulsory transfer of artistic masterpieces to museums in exchange for permission to take out the main part of their collections from the country.

The same thing happened with five paintings by Klimt: they remained in the Austrian Gallery in exchange for the fact that the heirs of the Bloch-Bauers were able to take out the main part of the collection. It would seem that history could be put an end to, but in 1998 Austria passed the Law on restitution of art objects, which obliged the return of works of art looted by the Nazis, and allowed any citizen to request information from museums about how works of art got into their funds.

In the same year, an Austrian journalist, working in the archives, discovered documents in which the transfer of Klimt's paintings to the Austrian Belvedere Gallery was falsified. If you remember, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer in 1936 gave the gallery only one landscape.

A series of articles followed on this subject, and the only living heir of the Bloch-Bauers, US citizen Maria Altman, having learned about this, went to court. In February 2006, the famous "Golden Adele" and four more paintings by Klimt after the trial "Maria Altman against the Republic of Austria" by decision of the international court became the personal property of 79-year-old Maria Altman, who lived in Los Angeles since 1942.

At the same time, the Austrian government declared its desire to keep Klimt's works in the country. Austria took measures unprecedented in the history of the state to save the national treasure: negotiations were underway with banks for a loan to buy paintings, the country's government turned to the population with a request for help, intending to issue "Klimt bonds".

The public announced a fundraising subscription, and donations began to come not only from the Austrians. However, the price of $150 million requested by Maria Altman soared to $245 million and then to $300 million within a month. Angeles.

Maria Altmann had a rare chance to enter the history of Austria by showing nobility and leaving Klimt's paintings in his homeland. Of course, not free of charge, because the initial assessment of 150 million dollars was considered in Austria as fair compensation. However, the subsequent doubling of prices and Altman's intransigence, of course, did not add sympathy to this elderly woman in the artist's homeland.

In addition, the will of Adele Bloch-Bauer herself, who wished to transfer the paintings to the Austrian Gallery, was actually violated. Paradoxically, the Nazi regime, as it were, carried out Adele's will by transferring Klimt's paintings to the gallery. It should be noted that the portraits of Adele, despite the rampant anti-Semitism in Austria at that time, were exhibited in the museum during the Nazi era.

In early February 2006, more than four thousand Austrians and visitors to Vienna came to the Belvedere Gallery to last time see five paintings by Klimt that have passed into private hands. "Golden Adele" calling card Vienna gallery Belvedere, she long years was placed on the covers of catalogs and albums about the museum.

On February 14, 2006, the paintings flew overseas, and already on June 19, a report appeared in the newspapers that Ronald Lauder had purchased "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" for $ 135 million and placed it in his New gallery in New York. Now residents and guests of New York can admire the "Golden Adele", and everyone else can see famous painting Klimt on souvenirs.
In addition to two portraits of Adele, three landscapes were also handed over.

On February 7, 2011, Maria Altman passed away, but her heirs, even with their great desire, could not have donated Klimt's paintings to the Austrian Belvedere gallery, since all of them had already been sold to private individuals.

See text with illustrations here.http://maxpark.com/community/6782/content/3200699

Gustav Klimt "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer" I, 1907, oil on canvas, 138×138 cm, New Gallery, New York

In a New York gallery, the most expensive
modern history picture.
"Adel Bloch Bauer" by Gustav Klimtbought for $135 million by Ronald Lauder, heir to the cosmetics empire Estee Lauder.

Judith I (detail) 1901
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer (detail) 1907
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer (detail) 1912

Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881-1925)

Daughter CEO Vienna Banking Union Moritz Bauer. Adele Bauer in 1899, being 18 years old, married the much older Ferdinand Bloch.
Prior to that, her sister Maria married the brother of Ferdinand Bloch - Gustav. Both families took the surname Bloch-Bauer.

They belonged to a select section of the big Jewish bourgeoisie of the Fin de siecle (end of the century) period. In the salon of Ferdinand and Adele Bloch-Bauer, painters, writers and
social democratic politicians such as Karl Renner and Julius Tandler.

Adele Bloch-Bauer became a model for paintings by Gustav Klimt four times and did not suspect that, in addition to world fame, her name would be involved in a scandal. But let's start in order.

Maria Altman, niece and heiress of Adele Bloch-Bauer, who will be discussed below, described her aunt as follows:
“Suffering, constantly suffering from a headache, smoking like a steam locomotive, terribly
soft and dark. Soulful face, self-satisfied and elegant.

Among the artists supported by the Bloch-Bauer family was Gustav Klimt, who since 1899 had been friends with Adele Bloch-Bauer.
Already in 1901, Klimt wrote "Judith I", a semi-act depicting the biblical Judith. Adele Bloch-Bauer herself served as the model, although this fact was not advertised anywhere.

Judith I and, eight years later, Judith II are the embodiments of Klimt's archetype of the femme fatale. His Judith is not a biblical heroine, but rather a Viennese contemporary of his, as evidenced by her fashionable, perhaps expensive neckpiece. According to the publications of Berta Zuckerkandl, Klimt created a type of vamp woman even
long before Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich who personified him appeared on the silver screen. Proud and free, but at the same time mysterious and charming, the femme fatale values ​​herself higher than the male spectator.



Judith I 1901 Belvedere Gallery, Vienna
Judith I (framed) 1901

Klimt's paintings cannot be considered separately from luxurious frames. The first version of the frame for Judith I was made by the artist's brother, jeweler Georg Klimt, by chance.
The ornament in the painting was also transferred to the frame in the then very popular manner proposed by the Pre-Raphaelites.

Paintings about Judith were created under the influence of Byzantine art, which Klimt studied during a trip to Ravenna.
The intended contrast between the three-dimensional plasticity of a finely drawn and softly painted face and the two-dimensional surface of the ornament is distinguishing feature these pictures. "Photo montage effect" enhances their charm.

Interesting detail:
All the paintings of early Klimt were born under the influence of their future frame. That is, at first the artist's brother brought him a frame, and then a picture was created, which, as it seemed to Klimt, should have corresponded to the frame.

Without a doubt, Klimt found in Judith a generalizing symbol of the justice that a woman does over a man who atones for his guilt by death.
In this biblical figure, Eros and Death are united in a familiar union that the fin de siecle (end of the century) found so intriguing.

In 1909, "Judith II" was created - and on this canvas, it is very likely that Adele is also depicted.



Judith II 1909 Gallery contemporary art, Venice
Judith II together with frame 1909

As Gilles Nere writes, Klimt clearly painted the “death orgasm” of a femme fatale rather than a portrait of a virtuous Jewish widow.”

Judith Klimt was supposed to irritate that part of Viennese society (in
otherwise ready to accept his violations of the taboo), which was called the Jewish bourgeoisie. Klimt violated religious prohibitions, and the audience could not believe their eyes.
Commentators have speculated that Klimt must have been mistaken in asserting that this frenetic, virtually orgasmic woman, with her half-closed eyes and slightly parted lips, was a pious Jewish widow and a daring heroine.

The people were certain that Klimt was referring to Salome, the quintessential fin de femme fatale who had already captivated so many artists and thinkers, from Gustave Moreau to Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley, Franz von Stuck and Max Klinger.
And the picture "Judith II" from the best of intentions was constantly called "Salome" in catalogs and magazines. It remains unknown whether Klimt attributed to his Judith the features of Salome; but whatever his intentions, the result is the most eloquent depiction of Eros and fantasies. contemporary artist fatal woman.

His colleague and friend Alfred Bass wrote in his diary: “When I saw Gustav’s Salome, I realized that all the women I knew so far were fake. When I saw his Kiss, I realized that I had never loved When I saw the sketch for "Judith" I realized the worst thing is that I didn't live at all, and if I did, I didn't live
life."

In 1903, Klimt received an order from Ferdinand Bloch to paint a portrait of his wife. In subsequent years, the artist created more than 100 sketches for the painting, before in 1907 he was able to present his "Golden Adele" to the public. The portrait shows Adele at the age of 26.



"Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" 1907 Gallery of Modern Art, New York

This painting is also known as "Golden Adele" or "Austrian Mona Lisa".
It is considered one of the most significant paintings by Klimt and the Austrian Art Nouveau in general.
It is noteworthy that the main idea of ​​the picture already existed on this early stage. Only the exact position of the model remained controversial, primarily the position of the hands and head.
The four sketches shown here were drawn in black chalk.





Studies for "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" 1903

If in the work "Judith and Holofernes" Adele Bloch-Bauer performed under the pseudonym Judith, then in this picture she is her own person.

All the features that distinguish Klimt's "golden period" are evident here: a combination of realism in the depiction of the face and hands with abstract scenery, a smooth flow of one into the other and back, exotic symbolism that fills the heroine's attire and the surrounding background, an imperceptibly spicy atmosphere.
They say that Klimt painted his strange portraits from nude models, and only then covered the bodies with flat ornamental clothes.
Perhaps so: what the Puritan public called "perversion" literally oozes from this canvas. But this is not "corruption", but rather, fatigue from their own respectability, which has turned into a golden cage, and a desire to break free.

The portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer belongs to the golden period in Klimt's work. In 1903, during a trip to Italy, the artist was inspired by the richly decorated with gold church mosaics in Ravenna and Venice, the ancient language of which he transferred to modern forms visual arts. He experimented with various painting techniques in order to give the surface of his work a new look. In addition to oil painting he used the technique of relief and gilding.
Only the face, shoulders and arms are depicted naturally. The interior, together with the flowing dress and furniture, is only indicated, turning into an ornament, it becomes abstract and does not give
no spatial orientation, which corresponds to the color range and forms used by Klimt in 1898-1900. Klimt admired Byzantine, Minoan, Mycenaean and Egyptian art, as well as medieval religious painting in Italy. In addition, the forms of the canvas reflect the influence of the Japanese style that was fashionable at that time in Europe.
the art of Ukiyo-e printmaking and painting from the Edo period. Last but not least, one feels character traits french impressionism, which was known in Austria largely due to the Vienna Secession.

The face and hands, realistically painted in cold colors, are the visual dominant in the perception of the picture, standing out from the rest of the elements, executed in an ornamental way. The composition of the canvas is divided into two vertical parts: Adele Bloch-Bauer is depicted on the right, the left part is almost empty and contains only a hint of the interior. The bottom third of the canvas is filled with the hem of her dress. Gustav Klimt refused to depict perspective depth in the painting, preferring flatness. The ornamental gold of the background pushes the outlined space into the background. The walls, the chair, and the dress of the model turn out to be just two-dimensional figures placed side by side.

A graceful female figure, which can be seen upon closer examination, sits in an armchair. There is no free space above and below it, it occupies the entire vertical of the picture. The image of the head appears to be cut off at the top. Black, pulled up hair and a disproportionately large red mouth contrast with an extremely pale, almost blue-white carnation. The woman holds her hands clasped in a dynamic curve in front of her chest and looks directly at the viewer, thereby enhancing the visual impact.

A shawl is thrown over the figure-hugging dress. It flows, expanding from the hands to the lower edge of the picture. Gold tones also predominate here. The neckline of the dress is decorated with a thin border of rectangles and a wide stripe with a double row of triangles. Then a pattern of randomly arranged stylized eyes inscribed in triangles was used (see the symbolism of the All-Seeing Eye). A cape with an ornament of spirals, leaf shapes and barely marked folds seems a little lighter than a dress. The armchair, also golden, stands out against the general background only thanks to the pattern of spirals - it completely lacks any shadows, halftones or contours. A small light green fragment of the floor brings a color accent to the overall range and helps to give stability to the figure.

The finished "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" in 1907 was immediately exhibited in the artist's studio in Vienna and in the same year appeared in the magazine "German Art and Decoration", and then at the international art exhibition in Mannheim. In 1910, the portrait was in the Klimt Hall as part of the IX International Exposition in Venice. Until 1918 the portrait was not
exhibited and was at the disposal of Ferdinand and Adele Bloch-Bauer. From 1918 to 1921 in the Austrian State Gallery.

Five years later, in 1912, Klimt paints another portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.



"Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II" 1912

Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer acquired in addition to the first "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" and
the second - "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II", as well as four more landscapes: "Birch Grove", "Kammer Castle on Lake Attersee III", "Apple Tree I", "Houses in Unterach am Attersee". A "Portrait of Amalia Zuckerkandl" was also acquired.

Adele Bloch-Bauer died on January 24, 1925, leaving a will in which she asked her husband to donate two of her portraits and four landscapes by Gustav Klimt to the Austrian State Gallery after his death.
At the pronouncement of the will, her husband agreed
fulfill the will of the deceased, but did not fully fulfill it, he gave the gallery only one landscape of Klimt. Landscape "Castle Kammer on the lake Attersee III" he presented in 1936 to the Austrian gallery Belvedere.

"Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" in 1937 participated in the exhibition Austrian art in Paris and Bern.

When, after the Anschluss on March 12/13, 1938, Austria became part of the Third Reich, the Jew Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer fled first to Czechoslovakia and then to Switzerland. The paintings, along with most of his fortune, remained in Austria.
Reinhard Heydrich lived in his summer residence of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer after the annexation of Czechoslovakia. Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer died on November 13, 1945 in Zurich. Before his death, he canceled in his will the donation of paintings to Austrian museums.

Since the Bloch-Bauer family had no children, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer appointed his brother's children, Maria Altman, Louise Gutmann and Robert Bentley, as his heirs. Shortly before his death, he hired the Viennese lawyer Rinesh to protect the interests of the heirs.

A large collection of Bloch-Bauer art, including five paintings by Klimt (and "Golden Adele" among them), was confiscated Nazi Germany and donated to the Austrian Gallery. In 1941, the Austrian gallery bought Klimt's paintings "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" and "Apple Tree I".

In 1946, Austria declared all legal acts motivated by Nazi ideology null and void.
However, when returning to the owners of the art treasures confiscated by the Nazis, Austria applied the tactics to the owners
voluntary-compulsory transfer of artistic masterpieces by them to museums in exchange for permission to export the main part of their collections from the country. The same thing happened with five paintings by Klimt: they remained in the Austrian gallery - because the heirs of the Bloch-Bauers were able to take out the main part of the collection.

In 1998, Austria passed the Art Restitution Law, which required the return of art looted by the Nazis and allowed any citizen to ask museums for information on how the art came into their collections.

In the same year, an Austrian journalist, working in the archives, discovered documents
questioning official version the appearance of Klimt's paintings in the Austrian Gallery (as if they were donated by Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer in 1936). A series of articles on the subject followed.

The only living heir of the Bloch-Bauers, Maria Altman, a US citizen, having learned about this legal conflict, went to court.


Maria Altman is the heiress of the Bloch-Bauers.

In February 2006, the famous "Golden Adele" and four more paintings by Klimt after the trial "Maria Altman against the Republic of Austria", by decision of the international court, became the personal property of a US citizen 79 year oldMaria Altman.

The Austrian government declared its desire to keep the work of Klimt in the country.
Austria has taken measures unprecedented in the history of the state to save the national treasure.
Negotiations were underway with banks for a loan to buy paintings. In addition, the country's government turned to the population with a request for help, intending to issue "Klimt bonds".
The public announced a fundraising subscription.
Donations began to arrive, and not only from the Austrians. However, Altman's asking price soared from $150 million to $245 million and then to $300 within a month.

After Austria renounced the right of first refusal to purchase paintings, five paintings by Klimt were brought to Los Angeles on February 14, 2006, where Maria Altman had lived since 1942.

The very fact of the sale of the canvases will violate the will of Adele Bloch-Bauer, who wished to transfer the paintings to the Austrian gallery (and after all, Maria Altman is the heiress on her line).
Paradoxically, the will of Adele was to some extent fulfilled by the Nazi regime, having transferred the paintings of Klimt to the gallery.
Portraits of Adele, despite the rampant anti-Semitism in Austria at that time, were exhibited in the museum during the Nazi era.
The democratic judiciary ultimately led to the violation of Adele's wishes, not to mention the millions of Austrians who were deprived of their national icon.

Maria Altmann had a rare chance to enter the history of Austria by showing nobility and leaving Klimt's paintings in his homeland.
Not free of charge, of course, and the initial estimate of $150 million was seen in Austria as fair compensation.
However, the subsequent doubling of the price and the intransigence of Altman and her representatives, of course, did not add sympathy to this elderly woman in the artist's homeland. By the way, the Altman family has always been very wealthy.

In February 2006, more than 4,000 Austrians and visitors to Vienna came to the Belvedere to see for the last time five Klimt paintings that had gone into private hands. I note that "Golden Adele" was the hallmark of the Belvedere gallery in Vienna, for many years it was placed on the covers of catalogs and albums about the museum. And already on June 19, the newspapers reported that Ronald Lauder had purchased "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" for $135 million. The portrait has since been in the New Gallery founded by Lauder in New York.

Now residents and guests of New York can admire the "Golden Adele", and the rest
it remains to see the famous Klimt painting on souvenirs.

In 2015, The Woman in Gold directed by Simon Curtis premiered with Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds in leading role, which tells the story of Maria Altmann, who is trying to return to the family a portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer - one of the masterpieces painted by Gustav Klimt.

"365" studied the paintings of the Austrian master in order to unravel who these women are, who mysteriously look at us from his canvases.

Gustav Klimt was born on July 14, 1862 in the Austro-Hungarian city of Baumgarten in the family of the engraver and jeweler Ernest Klimt. There were seven children in the family: three boys and four girls. By the way, all three of Ernest's sons became artists.

First, Gustav learns to draw from his father, but then he enters the Vienna Art and Craft School at the Austrian Museum of Art, where he specializes in architectural painting. Then the model for Gustav was the artist Hans Makart, a representative of academicism. And by the way, unlike most young artists of that time, Klimt agrees with the canons of academic painting and does not oppose the principles of conservative academic drawing.

Gustav, his brother Ernst and their friend Franz Match worked together since 1880 - they decorated theaters and museums with frescoes. In 1888, Gustav Klimt was awarded the "Golden Cross" - it was presented to him by Emperor Franz Joseph for services to art. But after some time in Klimt's life comes crucial moment: his father and brother die, and all responsibility for the family falls on Gustav.

These events could not pass without a trace - artistic look Klimt changes, his own style begins to develop. In 1897, Klimt headed the Secession - artistic association innovators, created as a counterweight to conservative representatives of art. Gustav Klimt is the founder of Art Nouveau in Austrian painting. In his works, you can often find a clear silhouette and ornamentalism. . Generally, The main subject of his work is the female body. Most of his paintings are permeated with eroticism.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907)

The painting is also known as "Golden Adele" or "Austrian Mona Lisa".

Adele is the daughter of the CEO of the Vienna Banking Association. In 1903, Gustav Klimt received an order for a portrait of Adele from her husband, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, but the painting "Golden Adele" was released only in 1907 - in four years, Klimt made more than a hundred sketches for her. This painting is considered one of the most significant works of the artist.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II (1912)

This portrait, among other works by Klimt, hung in Adele's home until her family was arrested by the Nazis during World War II. The Austrian Museum, in which the painting ended up after the war, refused to return it to its owners. But after the trial, this and several other paintings by the artist were returned to Maria Altmann, the niece of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, in 2006.

Judith with the head of Holofernes

Judith - heroic image a young woman who saved her Jewish people from Assyrian captivity by cutting off the head of the enemy commander Holofernes.

The story of Judith has inspired many artists in the history of world art. Klimt also presented Judith as a seductress, bold and desperate. Here she is the fatal winner. The girl comes out of the tent of Holofernes, still half-naked, in her hands she carries the head of the enemy. Despite her haughty look, Klimt's heroine remains fragile and feminine.

The portrait was created in 1901. The model was his beloved Adele Bloch-Bauer, daughter of the general director of the Vienna Banking Union. Although Klimt did not advertise the fact of her posing.

The work caused controversy. Judith was not happy in marriage, and the victory over Holofernes became a kind of challenge to the entire male society. No wonder Klimt portrayed her deliberately sensual, in golden tones, which means a symbol of triumph.

Three Ages of Woman (1905)

In the painting, Klimt depicted the cycle of life: on the one hand, a peaceful young woman with a child in her arms, on the other, an old, depressed woman. They even contrast with colors that set the mood: youth is depicted as bright, radiant, while old age is gray and doomed. Art critics call the cycle of life - one of central motives artist's works.

Danae (1907-1908)

The painting "Danae" is an illustration of the myth of Zeus. According to this myth, he fell in love with the girl Danae and, in order to possess her, shed golden rain, after which Danae gave birth to Perseus. Klimt discards all the details and captures exactly the moment of love between Zeus and Danae. Despite the fact that many of the artist’s paintings are characterized by an erotic motif, Danae is the most explicit of his works.

Lady with a fan (1917-1918)

Creating an image oriental woman in this picture, Gustav Klimt did not depict any particular woman, here the image is a collective one. Grace and elegance served as models for the picture.

Lady with Hat and Boa (1909)

Despite the fact that we see only part of the lady's face, almost just one glance, the artist was able to convey in it all the strength of her character. Despite the fact that her body is completely closed, the picture is not without eroticism: it, again, conveys this look full of confidence and mystery.

Portrait of Fritz Riedler (1906)

At first glance it seems that this portrait of the wife of a government official is utterly modest. But this is only at first glance: taking a closer look at her face, we see a restrained sensuality: a half-open mouth, a blush. Yes, and the chair on which she sits is decorated with "peacock eyes" - symbols with sexual overtones.

Hope I (1903)

Germa worked as a model to support her family. After Germa became pregnant, she wanted to leave her job, but Klimt could not allow one of her favorite models to leave. It turned out to be a very touching portrait: despite the deep look of the expectant mother, expressing calmness, in the background we can see frightening grimaces that can be deciphered as threats and fears for the child.

Maiden (1913)

Klimt's "Maiden" is the story of the transformation of a girl into a woman. main character the picture is sleeping peacefully, her expression is also serene, immaculate, you can see the nightgown. And at this time, more sophisticated and sensual women penetrate into her dream, which heroine has yet to become. But this world has already got very close to the girl, enveloped her.

The Girl with the Blue Veil (1903)

In this work, the artist paid a lot of attention to the model's hair: he carefully worked it out, and the color of the background and veil contrasts beautifully with the color of the hair. They are the main decoration of the girl. Despite the open body, the picture turned out to be moderately restrained, not overtly erotic. There is an assumption that the model was Germa, familiar to us from the painting "Hope I".

Text: Anna Simonaeva, Sofia Zubareva