One of the most magical paintings by Gustav Klimt from the lost under the Nazis art collection will be auctioned at Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale on June 24. The artwork created in 1902 is titled “Portrait of Gertrud Loew” and depicts the 19-year-old daughter of Dr. Anton Loew, a famous Viennese physician. The well-known painting, which remained in the Felsovanyi family after Gertrud Loew, who widowed after marrying the Hungarian industrialist Elemer Baruch von Felsovanyi, left Austria in 1939, fleeing Nazi persecution. Later, this amazing example of Gustav Klimt’s paintings passed into the hands of one of his sons, Gustav Ucicky. After his death in 1961, the “Portrait of Gertrud Loew,” along with other fine art pieces, was left to his wife who established the Klimt Foundation in 2013.
The portrait of Gertrud Loew in a beautiful blue-trimmed gauzy dress refers to Klimt’s almost monochrome paintings showing gentle heroines of the 19th century and, thereby, predates artist’s gold period. Its estimated sale price is about $18 million – $28 million (£12 million – £18 million). It has already been requested for the “Gustav Klimt and the Women of Vienna’s Golden Age, 1900-1918” exhibition that will be held at New York Neue Galerie in September 2016 – January 2017.