Art

Art Reflections

Cashing in on Klimt

Gustav Klimt is breaking sales records once again, according to numerous news sources. He is known as one of the most iconic artists in history, with arguably one of the most easily recognized styles. His works have been used to decorate everything from coffee mugs to dorm room posters. There were even 30,000 Austrian euros decorated with the image of his painting “The Kiss”. Ownership of his work has been the source of bitter disputes, due to their history during World War II, making their value skyrocket. This year his piece “Bauerngarten” sold for over 59 million and isn’t even his most famous painting. A movie was made about the history of his painting “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I”, otherwise known as the Woman in Gold, and that piece sold for 135 million. Many people don’t know that he made two portraits of Adele and the other one was recently sold by Oprah for 150 million recently according to Bloomberg. One of the most famous pieces, “The Kiss”, has no known price because it has never been up for auction, but you can imagine it would be shockingly high. Not bad for a painter who grew up poor and worked hard to build a reputable career.