A Modern Woman Living in the World of Yesterday

This Economist obituary covers not only Maria Altmann, who died lately, but also her aunt, Adele (who was the model for these two Gustav Klimts):


Adele sounds like quite a lady:

"Children annoyed her, because she had none of her own; small-talk made her furious, because she wanted to discuss religion and politics. ('My darling,' Mrs Altmann would sigh, 'Adele was a modern woman living in the world of yesterday.') Adele smoked like a chimney, and would drift around in loose white gowns with a gold cigarette-holder. Or she would sit, regal in black, holding court for musicians, artists and writers in the salon of her huge house just by the Vienna Staatsoper."

The pictures above and two others were stolen from the family by the Nazis in 1938. At 82, Altmann fought to get the pictures back from the Austrian National Gallery.


(picture, picture)