The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece [Paperback]

By Anne-Marie O'Connor

The true story that inspired the movie Woman in Gold starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds.

The Award-Winning Nazi Art Theft Saga
Winner of the Marfield National Award for Arts Writing
Winner of a California Book Award

“Fascinating. . . . A mesmerizing tale of art and the Holocaust.” —The Washington Post

“Writing with a novelist’s dynamism, O’Connor resurrects fascinating individuals and tells a many-faceted, intensely affecting, and profoundly revelatory tale of the inciting power of art and the unending need for justice.”—Booklist, starred review

“O’Connor skillfully filters Austria’s troubled twentieth century through the life of Klimt’s most beloved muse. . . . A nuanced view of a painting whose story transcends its own time.” —Bookforum

Contributor to the Washington Post Anne-Marie O’Connor brilliantly regales us with the galvanizing story of Gustav Klimt’s 1907 masterpiece—the breathtaking portrait of a Viennese Jewish socialite, Adele Bloch-Bauer. The celebrated painting, stolen by Nazis during World War II, subsequently became the subject of a decade-long dispute between her heirs and the Austrian government.

When the U.S. Supreme Court became involved in the case, its decision had profound ramifications in the art world. Expertly researched, masterfully told, The Lady in Gold is at once a stunning depiction of fin-de siècle Vienna, a riveting tale of Nazi war crimes, and a fascinating glimpse into the high-stakes workings of the contemporary art world.

Paperback
349 pages
Vintage Books, 2015
5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
ISBN 9781101873120
Art History, Nonfiction