Besides the fact that this painting is probably one of the most beautiful paintings of Gustav Klimt, certainly one of his masterpieces, it gained notoriety when cosmetics magnate Ronad S. Lauder purchased it at auction for the Neue Gallery in Manhattan for $135 million dollars, the highest sum ever paid for a painting.

The subject of the portrait is Adele Bloch-Bauer, the wife of a Jewish sugar industrialist and the hostess of a prominent Vienna salon.For years, the painting was the focus of a restitution battle between the Austrian government and a niece of Mrs. Bloch-Bauer who argued that it was seized along with four other Klimt paintings by the Nazis during World War II. In January all five paintings were awarded to the niece, Maria Altmann, now 90, who lives in Los Angeles, and other family members.