Movie Review: The Woman in Gold

Artist	Gustav Klimt
Year	1907
Type	Oil, silver, and gold on canvas
Dimensions	138 cm × 138 cm (54 in × 54 in)
Location	Neue Galerie, New York

Gustav Klimt

1907

Oil, silver, and gold on canvas

138 cm × 138 cm (54 in × 54 in)

Neue Galerie, New York

Last weekend my husband and I went to see the movie Woman in Gold named after Gustav Klimt's painting of Adele Bloch-Bauer painted in 1907. The movie follows the the legal and personal struggles of Adele Bloch-Bauer's niece, Maria Altmann, and a young lawyer, Randol Schoenberg, who was the son of a friend in their attempt for restitution of several seized Klimt paintings, including The Woman in Gold (Adele Bloch-Bauer I). Interspersed with the long legal battles from 2000 through 2006 are flash backs to Klimt painting the portrait of Maria's Aunt Adele, life in Vienna just before the Germans arrived,  through the time when Maria fled from Germany with her husband. In the movie Helen Mirren plays Maria and Ryan Reynolds plays her lawyer, E. Randol Schoenberg.

I must say I loved the movie. In part because I learned more of the story of the painting, but also because of the emotional investment of both Maria Altman and Randol Schoenberg. They took turns convincing each other to continue their battle as their passion and feelings of frustration regarding the reality of restitution rose and fell. When one was ready the give up the other kept the fight going. The interplay between Maria Altmann and Randol Schoenberg was as gripping as the painting is beautiful.

Now the painting The Woman in Gold is located at Neue Galerie New York, Museum for German and Austrian Art, which is holding an exhibition titled  "Gustav Klimt and Adele Bloch-Bauer: The Woman in Gold. The exhibition is opening in conjunction with the movie and running through September 7, 2015. To learn more about the painting and the exhibition click on the link provided.