Gililland Middle School’s Art teacher Mrs. Gregory, has been teaching 6th grade students about the portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer, also called “The Woman In Gold”. Students were asked to recreate the famous painting.
The portrait was painted by Gustav Klimt in 1907. It took him 3 years. “The Woman In Gold”, Adele Bloh Bauer, died in 1925. Adele’s husband had to flee from the Nazis. The painting ended up in Austria. Adele and her husband didn’t have any children so he left the portrait to his nieces and nephews. One of Adele’s nieces sued the Austrian government for ownership of the painting. It took 6 years, but the portrait and 4 others were finally turned over to the niece, Maria Altmann. Maria sold the painting for 135 million dollars. The painting has been at the the Neve Gallery in New York City since then.
Nazis took millions of artworks from their rightful owners. Many people are still trying to get their art back-more than 65 years after the end of World War II.