Painted during Klimt's "Golden Phase," the work is a pinnacle of the Vienna Secession movement.
: Adele Bloch-Bauer, a prominent Jewish socialite and patron of the arts in Vienna, was the only model Klimt painted twice.
: In the late 1990s, Maria Altmann, Adele’s niece, began a decade-long legal crusade to reclaim the work from the Austrian government. The case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court ( Republic of Austria v. Altmann ).
: The painting is noted for its "flat," decorative composition where Adele's realistic face and hands emerge from a sea of geometric and organic gold motifs. History of Looting and Restitution
(The Woman in Gold) refers primarily to the iconic 1907 masterpiece by Gustav Klimt, titled Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I , as well as the high-profile legal battle and subsequent 2015 film detailing its restitution. The Masterpiece: Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I
: In 2006, an arbitration panel in Vienna ruled in favor of Altmann. Today, the painting is permanently displayed at the Neue Galerie in New York City.