Gustav Klimt, an Austrian painter best known for his painting “The Kiss”, died at the age of 55 and left behind outstanding masterpieces that are now highly sold at auctions.
In 1917, when he was one of the most well-known portrait painters in Europe, Klimt painted Dame mit Fächer (Lady With A Fan). Vienna Erwin Bohler purchased the artwork after the artist passed away in 1918. At auction at Sotheby’s in New York in 1994, the artwork was sold for £7.8 million, setting a record at the time.
The painting achieved a new record in June 2023 by fetching £85.3 million at Sotheby’s auction. The painting was sold to Patti Wong, founder of Patti Wong & Associates after a 10-minute bidding.
It is clear from the painting Birch Forest (1903) that Klimt may have drawn influence from folklore tradition, such as the fairy tale by Grimm.
Klimt chose to paint a fall scene with leaf hues in yellow tones, with trees reaching up to the sky like columns in a cathedral created by nature.Klimt was interested in impressionism and post-impressionism, painting trees and leaves with brushstrokes of colors.
The painting was sold for $104.6 million in a New York Christie’s auction in 2022.
One of Gustav Klimt’s most popular paintings is Adele Bloch-Bauer II (1912). Adele was the wife of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer’s wife, who was a wealthy patron of the arts and a friend of Gustav Klimt. The only model Klimt painted twice was Adele Bloch-Bauer, who also appeared in the considerably more well-known Adele Bloch-Bauer I.
Before the Nazis took them during World War II, Adele’s portraits hung in the family home. Five Gustav Klimt paintings were returned to Maria Altmann, the niece of the original owner, after a legal battle between the United States and Austria. Adele Bloch-Bauer II was sold by Christie’s in November 2006 for nearly $88 million.
Adele Bloch-Bauer I, painted during the peak of Klimt’s career – shows Egyptian art’s influences on the artist. Most notable is the mix of naturalism in the way he paints face, hands, ornamental decoration in clothes and background.
In 2006, the work was sold to Ronald Lauder (Neue Galerie, New York) for $135 million, surpassing the record of Picasso’s Boy With a Pipe (1905) – sold in 2004 for $ 104 million.
