One Work: Klimt

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (also called The Lady in Gold or The Woman in Gold) is an oil painting on canvas, with gold leaf, by Gustav Klimt, completed between 1903 and 1907. The portrait was commissioned by the sitter's husband, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, a Viennese and Jewish banker and sugar producer. The painting was stolen by the Nazis in 1941, and displayed at the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere. The portrait is the final and most fully representative work of Klimt's golden phase. It was the first of two depictions of Adele by Klimt—the second was completed in 1912; these were two of several works by the artist that the Bloch-Bauer family owned." Wikipedia

I've chosen this masterpiece by Klimt to contrast with Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Apologies to everyone who swoons over that smile, for I agree 100% with Paul Stewart about the Da Vinci portrait. It just doesn't speak to me the way other portraits do.

One of the most intriguing elements of the Klimt, for me, is how integrated the model is into the background. Since it's primarily a gold leaf background, it speaks of recognition of this woman being fully integrated into the world where she lives, moves, and has her being. It was commissioned by her husband, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, who commissioned the painting as a an anniversary gift for Adele's parents, who arranged their marriage. Adele's older sister married Ferdinand's older brother prior to Adele's marriage, giving the sense of a close-knit family. If they had produced children, they would have been double first cousins, but the couple was childless and art was a shared passion. In fact, Adele often hosted salons in their home, bringing creative minds together in gatherings of artists, politicians, writers, and other intellectuals. For me, this optical illusion speaks volumes of the esteem Klimt had for his subject, as she appears inseperable from the very fabric of the environment she curated, further suggesting that she was content to be part of the room as a whole, not demanding attention for herself, although she doesn't precisely blend into the background--her dress contains protection, as the evil eye is the pattern represented in the fabric of her dress, a sparkle of subtle difference, a quiet contrast with the wall behind her. High praise.

Klimt executed over a hundred sketches as noted and studies for this painting, and the Bloch-Bauers also purchased several of those as part of 16 Klimt drawings they purchased. I'm reluctant to dissect this painting, preferring to let it speak to you as it will, let your eyes find your own delight in the details instead of prescribing mine to you, though I will readily admit that her jewelry intrigues and fascinates me, and I love the pops of blue and red. I have a scarf with this image screened on it and The Kiss on the reverse side; I bought it in Columbia when I was shopping with my best friend from elementary school when we had our reunion weekend last month.

I was drawn to this Klimt portrait to contrast with Da Vinci's: to me, it's far more interesting as a painting , and the subject, for me, appears more interested in being interesting than posing prettily, and I imagine her parents were pleased with the gift, which was completed between 1903 and 1907. The Nazis stole it in 1941, and many today covet it because of the gold therein, ignoring the treatment of the gold, ignoring the artistic nuances in favor of worshipping the material itself.

The Mona Lisa? For me, it's an overrated, boring groupthink obssession with a boring, posed Renaissance portrait. Leo could paint, and his anatomincal study was grounbreaking. Given the choice, I would choose the Klimt every single time.

Here's the second portrait in this two-portrait series, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II, purchased in 2006 by Oprah Winfrey for 88 million dollars from Christie's auction house.