Tag Archives: Gustav Klimt

Visit the Neue Galerie in New York City to see Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer

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My goal is to publish new posts twice a week — Mondays and Thursdays. However, readership slows down in the summer, so I will only publish on Mondays until the weather gets cold and readership picks up.

The entrance to the Neue Galerie at Fifth Ave. and 85th St. in NYC

If you’ve seen the movie Woman in Gold, you know the fascinating story behind the Neue Galerie’s acquisition of Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer. It used to be on exhibition at the Upper Belvedere Museum in Vienna, Austria. So after a visit there in 2013, I added a visit to the Neue Galerie in New York City to my bucket list. It took a while for our visit, but it was worth the wait.

The entrance to the museum

The museum is conveniently located in NYC’s Museum Mile, a stone’s throw from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s fairly small, but with a very high quality collection of German and Austrian art, including works by Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Alfred Kubin, and Egon Schiele. The Klimt display includes several wonderful portraits of Vienna’s society women, including two of Adele Bloch-Bauer (1907 and 1912), and paintings of Gertha Loew (1902), Elisabeth Lederer (1914-15), and Ria Munk (1917). Of course, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer is the stunning highlight. This great collection of masterworks is only on display until September 25, 2017, as several of them are on temporary loan.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer on display in the museum

After your visit in New York City to the Neue Galerie, consider a trip to Vienna, Austria. If you love Klimt, as I do, you’ll want to visit the Upper Belvedere Museum in Vienna. They’ve got the world’s largest collection of Klimt’s work, 24 in all, including the most beautiful painting in the world, The Kiss. For my blog on our 2013 visit, click Wow! If you love Gustav Klimt, you must visit the Belvedere Palace & Museum in Vienna, Austria

Time passes quickly and the eagerly anticipated Baltimore Summer Antiques Show is less than two weeks away, August 24-27, 2017. It’s not too late to make plans. Hotwire.com has a 4-star hotel for $85 a night that’s hard to beat. The Baltimore Show is the best show of the summer and possibly the best of the year. People fly in from all over the world to attend, including Europe and Japan. If you haven’t yet visited, you should. It’s big, with some of the best national and international dealers. You’ll also enjoy Baltimore. Hope to see you there!

Click Philip Chasen Antiques to check my website for the latest items and to look around. I recently added several new items and I’ll be adding more this week. They’re some of the best items I’ve ever had, so I suggest you click on the following link and take a look. Philip Chasen’s new items.

I will update it as often as time permits. We’re still very much in business between shows, so please don’t hesitate to email or call. I always strive to offer the finest objects for sale on my website and at every show. There are many items for sale, sold items with prices and free lessons about glass and lamps. And remember to keep reading my blog.

Wow! If you love Gustav Klimt, you must visit the Belvedere Palace & Museum in Vienna, Austria

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That's me and my lovely wife, Lia, blocking the view of the Belvedere Palace

That’s me and my lovely wife, Lia, blocking the view of the Belvedere Palace

My goal is to publish new posts twice a week — Mondays and Thursdays. However, if you don’t see a new post on Thursday, it’s because I was too busy, so please look for a new one the following Monday.

One of the magnificent rooms of the Belvedere

One of the magnificent rooms of the Belvedere

If you like great museums, Vienna is the place for you. We visited a few, but were really blown away by the Upper Belvedere, one of two summer palaces of General Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663-1736). The palace itself is a gorgeous Baroque building, designed by the architect Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt (1668-1745), and built between 1712 and 1715. Today it’s a wonderful museum, with a great collection of paintings.

Gustav Klimt painting, The Kiss

Gustav Klimt painting, The Kiss

Foremost is the museum’s wonderful collection of 22 Gustav Klimt works, including the truly fabulous painting, The Kiss. It’s really impressive in person and much larger than I imagined, almost 6′ square. According to the museum’s curator, Dr. Alfred Weidinger, the Belvedere purchased The Kiss for 25,000 crowns on the first day it was exhibited in 1908. That is today’s equivalent of approximately $250,000. Also according to Dr. Weidinger, no painting had been sold prior in Austria for more than 500 crowns. Klimt was certainly no starving artist.

Gustav Klimt painting, Portrait of Adele Block-Bauer

Gustav Klimt painting, Portrait of Adele Block-Bauer

In 2006, Ronald Lauder (of Estee Lauder fame and fortune), paid $135 million for a 1907 Klimt portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, that was previously on display in the same room as The Kiss, at the Belvedere. Lauder purchased the painting from Mrs. Bloch-Bauer’s niece, Maria Altmann, who successfully sued the Austrian government to recover five Klimt paintings stolen by the Nazis from her aunt and uncle during WWII. The price Lauder paid suggests that The Kiss is one of the most valuable works of art on the planet. We’ll never know for sure as the Belvedere will never sell it.

That's a Renoir on the right and a Monet next to it

That’s a Renoir on the right and a Monet next to it

Other great artists are well-represented in the museum’s collection, including Claude Monet, Egon Schiele, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Oskar Kokoschka, to name a few. The museum is not too large and not too small, just like Goldilocks porridge, but the collection reveals the Midas touch.

One wall with three Klimt floral paintings

One wall with three Klimt floral paintings

No shows until late July, but we’re still very much in business. Please don’t hesitate to call or write. We’re always interested in buying, selling or trading.

Rare Argy-Rousseau elephant paperweight, just in

Rare Argy-Rousseau elephant paperweight, just in

Click here to view French cameo glass for sale. We always strive to offer the finest objects for sale on our website and at every show.

A rare blue Tiffany Favrile salt, just in

A rare blue Tiffany Favrile salt, just in

Look around my website. There are many items for sale, sold items with prices and free lessons about glass and lamps.