Oprah Winfrey pulled off one of the biggest private art deals of 2016.
Bloomberg reports the talk show legend sold a painting by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt for $150 million to an unnamed Chinese buyer.
Already one of the world's richest people with a net worth of $2.9 billion, Winfrey originally purchased the "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer" for $87.9 million at Christie's auction in 2006.
Klimt created the painting in 1912 and it depicts the wife of an art patron and industrialist in Vienna.
The 19th-century painter was a prominent member of the Vienna Secession movement.
Winfrey lent the painting anonymously to New York City's Museum of Modern Art in 2014, Business Insider reports.
The painting, which is currently on display in the Neue Galerie museum for Austrian and German art is being shown next to its predecessor, the "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I."
The painting was originally discovered as part of a series of paintings stolen by the Nazis during World War II but given back to surviving members of the Bloch-Bauer family in 2006.
Good.
ReplyDeleteMust be nice!
ReplyDeleteThat painting is exquisite-- Klimpt is second favorite painter( his "The Kiss/La Baci " my top
*Il bacio
ReplyDeleteI just saw a Klimt exhibit in NY at the Neue Gallerie. It was fantastic. His work really is gorgeous.
ReplyDelete"Unnamed Chinese buyer" :(
ReplyDeleteWhy would she sell it? Cash poor? I doubt the Chinese buyer will be as generous in loaning it to museums.
ReplyDeleteTo think Oprah did anything "private" is amazing; let's hope it's the beginning of a new and permanent trend...
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely Zilla 1- even his prints or repros of his work look amazing framed on then walls
ReplyDeleteI thought the Lauder cosmetic dude owned this painting. Did he sell it to Oprah? I, too, saw an exhibition of Austrian paintings (including Klimt) in the 80s and I almost fainted when I saw 'The Kiss.' Literally. The real gold leaf in the painting shines as brightly now as it did 100 years ago when he painted it. They don't make artists like that anymore. Is the 'Chinese' buyer named Wynn?
ReplyDeleteLOL you're so right!
ReplyDeleteHow very kind and generous of Oprah to accept Chinese money from an "unnamed Chinese buyer"! Even some American "progressives" talk about us like we're lowly, disgusting, and dirty and everything made in China is gross nowadays.
ReplyDeleteNow I want the "Golden Tarot of Klimt" deck even more... Stop it, Enty.
LOL. Maybe it turns out his is a forgery? Oprah's one made it through Christie's and MoMA.
ReplyDelete