Adele Bloch-Bauer

Adele Bauer was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, on August 9, 1881 to Moritz Bauer and Jeannette Bauer (née Honig).[1] Her father was a railway and bank director.[2] She met her future husband, Ferdinand Bloch, at the wedding of her sister Therese to Ferdinand's brother Gustav Bloch in 1898.[3] Adele and Ferdinand became engaged the next year, followed by marriage in Vienna's Stadttempel on December 19, 1899.[3] Ferdinand was a wealthy businessman who owned a sugar refinery in Bruck an der Mur, Austria.[4] In 1903, he commissioned the artist Gustav Klimt to paint a portrait of his wife, which was completed in 1907 and became the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. Kimberly Bradley of the BBC wrote the portrait transformed Bloch-Bauer into an "icon".[2] In 1912, Bloch-Bauer again sat for Klimt for a portrait, which became the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II.[5] In sitting for Klimt twice, she is the only verified person to be painted by the artist twice in full length.[5] Bloch-Bauer became a Viennese socialite, regularly hosting artists and authors in her salon.[6] Among the many people she hosted were conductors Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss.[7] She also socialized with royalty, including Prince Adolph Schwarzenberg.[8]

Maria Altmann, the niece of Bloch-Bauer, stated:

[Bloch-Bauer was a] rather cold, intellectual woman who was very politically aware and became a socialist. She wasn't happy. It was an arranged marriage but she was childless, after two miscarriages and the death of a baby. I remember her as extremely elegant, tall, dark and thin. She always wore a slinky white dress and used a long, gold cigarette holder.[2]

In 1925, Bloch-Bauer died of meningitis.[9] She was the subject of the 2009 children's book Adorable Adele by Peter Stephan Jungk.[10]