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For collectors searching portrait oil painting, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I is a dependable choice. Painted in layered oils on canvas after Gustav Klimt, this art nouveau work reads equally well as classic canvas wall art and as a thoughtful housewarming gift.
1907
Oil and gold on canvas
138 x 138 cm
Private collection.
Visitors from around the globe flock to Neue Galerie New York to see a very special lady, Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907), popularly referred to as the “Woman in Gold.” Few paintings have captured the public’s imagination so thoroughly. Klimt’s depiction of Adele Bloch-Bauer not only rendered her irresistible beauty and sensuality; its intricate ornamentation and exotic motifs heralded the dawn of modernity and a culture intent on radically forging a new identity.
Adele Bloch-Bauer possesses the rare distinction as being the only person Klimt ever painted twice in full-length portraits. She and her husband, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, assembled one of Vienna’s most renowned art collections, which included paintings by masters of Vienna’s Biedermeier period, modern sculpture, an impressive array of porcelain from the Royal Vienna Porcelain Factory, and a stellar group of works by Klimt, including the two portraits of Adele Bloch-Bauer and well as landscapes. The Klimt paintings originally hung in Adele’s private apartment in the couple’s Vienna home.
Klimt’s first portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer had initially been intended as a wedding anniversary present for her parents. But Klimt was notoriously slow in completing his portraits and it became clear that the intended gift would not be completed in time. He began work on the painting in 1903.
In December of that year, Klimt spent time in Ravenna, Italy, where he visited the sixth-century Church of San Vitale. He was deeply impressed by the richly decorated Byzantine mosaics of the Empress Theodora and described them as of “unprecedented splendor.” His first portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer incorporates jewel-like areas that resemble semi-precious stones and layers of lustrous gold and silver.
Klimt presents Adele Bloch-Bauer in an ambiguous position—it is unclear if she is standing or is seated in an armchair that is covered in sinuous spirals. A golden and highly ornamented halo surrounds her face. Her flushed cheeks and vivid red lips convey the sensuality of the woman behind the portrait. Adele Bloch-Bauer’s hands are clasped together in an unusual fashion to mask a disfigured finger about which she was extremely self-conscious.
Adele Bloch-Bauer is bedecked in precious jewelry, including a diamond choker, which had been a wedding present from her husband Ferdinand. (When the Nazis seized the Bloch-Bauer collection, this stunning necklace ended up in the possession of notorious Nazi leader Hermann G?ring.) The form-fitting sheath she wears is adorned with all-seeing eye motifs set within golden triangles. The diaphanous cloak that surrounds her is studded with her initials “AB,” raised in low relief. The black and white trim at the lower left edge recalls decorative elements on pieces of furniture from Klimt’s studio that were fabricated by the Wiener Werkst?tte (Vienna Workshops). The portrait has been called the greatest in the artist’s “golden style.”
Our artists reproduce this figurative composition in oil on canvas by hand, preserving the tonal range that makes portrait oil painting so sought after for an entryway.
Materials matter for art nouveau wall decor. That is why this piece is built on artist-grade canvas with lightfast oil colors, applied by hand rather than output from a printer, and sealed for long-term display.
Style it over a fireplace, behind a reading chair, or along a staircase. Wherever it goes, this art nouveau oil painting wall decor adds the layered color that only a hand painted canvas provides.
Whether the search term is portrait oil painting, entryway wall decor, or art nouveau oil painting wall decor, this hand painted canvas delivers the same thing: a real painted surface, made to your chosen dimensions.
| Size | Price |
|---|---|
| 20 X 20 in | $89.98 |
| 24 X 24 in | $100.98 |
| 30 X 30 in | $150.98 |
| 36 X 36 in | $219.98 |
| 40 X 40 in | $260.48 |
| 48 X 48 in | $356.48 |
The sizes shown are the reproduction canvas sizes we paint to order. The dimensions given in a work's description refer to the original artwork and will differ from the sizes offered here. Not sure? Read the size guide or e-mail us.
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Every canvas is painted by hand in oils on artist-grade stretched canvas, with an extra blank border left for framing. How to care for your painting.
Measurements are on the size guide, or e-mail [email protected] and we reply within one business day.
