Gustav Klimt - Portrait of Gertrud Loew 1902
Bildnis Gertrud Loew (GERTHA FELSŐVÁNYI). Portrait of Gertrud Loew (GERTHA FELSŐVÁNYI) 1902
149x45cm oil/canvas
Sold for: USD 38.9 (GBP 24.78) million
Auction house: Sotheby’s, London
Sale date: 24 June 2015
Seller: Klimt Foundation & The Heirs of Gertha Felsőványi
Buyer: Anonymous buyer
From Sotheby’s, London:
Gustav Klimt’s exquisite and ingenious representations of women have led to him become the most celebrated painter of the female portrait of the early 20th Century. Bildnis Gertrud Loew, painted in 1902, is an extraordinarily beautiful and captivating work from a crucial period in the artist’s career. Wreathed in diaphanous folds of gossamer fine white and lilac cloths, the sitter’s delicate features are composed into an expression of dreamy repose and gentleness, animated only by points of reflected light in her eyes. Klimt’s vertically inclined composition helps to enhance the figure’s somnambulant detachment by removing all extraneous details.