Adele Bloch-Bauer, wife of the Viennese banker and sugar industrialist Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, sits almost dissolved in a field of gold and silver leaf, with only her face, shoulders and hands painted naturalistically. It is the high point of Klimt's golden phase. Seized by the Nazis, it was returned to her niece Maria Altmann in 2006 after a seven-year legal fight.
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Her dress is scattered with eye motifs drawn from ancient Egyptian art, and the jewelled choker at her neck also appears in Klimt's Judith.
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