The Daily Book of Art

DAY 325

A PICTURE’S WORTH 1000 200 WORDS

Adele Bloch-Bauer I

GUSTAV KLIMT, 1907

 

In the early 20^th century, an Austrian sugar mogul named Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer commissioned a Viennese artist, Gustav Klimt, to create a portrait of Bloch-Bauer’s wife, Adele. Klimt was already a well-known innovator. He and his contemporaries, calling themselves the Vienna Secession, were pushing the boundaries of established styles and techniques. Adele Bloch-Bauer I is an example of Klimt’s non-traditional approach. All of the gold and silver is genuine, applied as both leaf and paint. The stylized body is flattened into the background and turned into ...