Monday 31 March 2008

Another Belgian in America

Last week, I went to see one of the most expensive paintings ever sold: 'Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I', by Gustav Klimt. The work hangs in the beautiful Neue Galerie, in New York. I was happy to see that Adele is flanked by two nice sculptures by George Minne, a Belgian Symbolist artist.

At the end of 2007, the New York Sun reported: "Exactly 100 years ago, Gustav Klimt's iconic portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, now enthroned in the Neue Galerie and possibly the most famous painting in New York, was exhibited in Vienna between two soulful and sinewy sculptures by the Belgian artist George Minne. Today, after a tumultuous century of world wars and totalitarian regimes, the two sculptures have turned up on the Upper East Side at the Neue Galerie. There, once again, they flank the ethereal Frau Bloch-Bauer. All three works had belonged to her family before they were confiscated by the Nazis. Two years ago, after the Klimt portrait was finally "restituted" to her descendants, they sold it to the Neue Galerie. Now they have donated these two sculptures."

Read the full story here.

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