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A decade ago, five treasured Gustav Klimt paintings seemed as permanent a part of Vienna as its grand architecture, but after an epic legal battle, they have a new life in America.
The works by the Austrian painter, a founder of the Secessionist movement that inspired much of Vienna's turn-of-the-century buildings, went on display in Los Angeles this week.
The special exhibition includes one of the most recognizable paintings in the world, the 1907 "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer." It went on display after Bloch-Bauer's niece, Maria Altmann, won a bitter eight-year legal battle for ownership of the paintings, worth around 300 million dollars.
"I couldn't be happier," said the Altmann, 90, as she viewed the paintings that were stolen from her family by the Nazis in World War II and were exhibited in Vienna for 60 years.
"I used to live in Vienna, now I live in Los Angeles, and the paintings have followed me here," she said. "That they are now here is just too good for words."
The most celebrated of the lot are the two portraits of Altmann's spirited aunt Adele Bloch-Bauer, whom she still vividly recalls.
The 1907 portrait, from Klimt's "gold period," "ranks as a supreme icon of early 20th century art," said Los Angeles Times art critic Christopher Knight.
It shows the elegant society woman bedecked in a geometrically patterned gold gown and backed by a gold wall. It is said to be worth around 100 million dollars.
Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, a wealthy Jewish industrialist, commissioned the portraits of his wife, who died in 1925, from the artist who died in 1918. It is considered central to Viennese cultural identity and symbolizes the history of much of the city's Jewish population.
Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer spent most the war in Switzerland, leaving the paintings in Austria where the Nazis stole them.
Before he died, he willed his property to his niece Altmann and her two siblings who have since died.
But Austria claimed that the paintings belonged to Vienna's Austrian Gallery Belvedere because Adele Block-Bauer's 1923 will asked that her husband pass the paintings on to the museum.
However in 1998, Austria opened previously closed files, and investigations revealed that Adele's request was not legally enforceable. In fact, the paintings belonged to Ferdinand, not Adele, it emerged.
Altmann's legal battle led to a 2004 US Supreme Court ruling that Altmann could sue Austria in a US court.
Eventually, the sides agreed to binding arbitration. In January the three arbiters decided unanimously in Altmann's favor.
The Austrian gallery had the opportunity to purchase the paintings, but the government deemed them too expensive.
Stephanie Barron, senior curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, suggested to Altmann that the museum pack, ship and insure the works from Vienna to Los Angeles.
In return, the paintings would be displayed. Altmann agreed. The museum shipped the works, printed brochures, posters and notecards in about a month.
The paintings are on public display until June 30. After that, Altmann has the paintings to herself.
The museum, located in Los Angeles, is open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 12:00 noon to 8:00 pm; Friday 12:00 noon to 9:00 pm; Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm. It is closed Wednesdays.
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AFPEntertainment-US-Austria-art-justice-Klimt
AFP 061059 GMT 04 06
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