Biography

Adele Bloch-Bauer was born on August 9, 1881 in Vienna, Austria. She was married to Ferdinand Bloch. She died on January 24, 1925 in Vienna, Austria.

Her husband commissioned Gustav Klimt to do five works, including two portraits of Adele. "Adele Bloch-Bauer I" (1907), in which Klimt has Adele sitting on a golden throne, made her a celebrity. In her will, Adele requested that her husband donate the Klimts to the Austrian Gallery. The works were seized by the Nazis when they annexed Austria in 1938. It wasn't until 2006 that Austria finally gave the paintings to Adele's niece Maria Altmann after a seven year legal battle. Maria sold "Adele Bloch-Bauer I" to later that year to Ronald Lauder for a then-record $135 million.