Beschreibung:

Details
GUSTAV KLIMT (1862-1918)
Birch Forest
signed ‘GUSTAV KLIMT’ (lower left)
oil on canvas
43 3/8 x 43 1/4 in. (110.1 x 109.8 cm.)
Painted in 1903
Provenance
Adele and Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, Vienna (acquired from the artist).
Seized by the Viennese Magistrate, May 1938 (following the Nazi Anschluss of March 1938).
With Dr. Erich Führer, Vienna (the state-appointed administrator for Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer).
Städtische Sammlung, Vienna (acquired from the above, November 1942).
Österreichische Galerie, Vienna (transferred from the above, 1948).
Restituted to the heirs of Adele and Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer by the Republic of Austria, March 2006; sale, Christie's, New York, 8 November 2006, lot 51 (world auction record for the artist at the time of sale).
Acquired at the above sale by the late owner.
Literature
H.O. Miethke, Das Werk Gustav Klimt Vienna, 1914, vol. 4 (illustrated, pl. 6).
Mitteilungen Staatsgalerie, 1921, no. 52.
M.J. Liechtenstein, Gustav Klimt und seine oberösterreichischen Salzkammergutlandschaften, 1951, no. 25.
I. Hatle, Gustav Klimt ein Wiener Maler des Jugendstils, Graz, 1955 (dated 1905).
E. Pirchan, Gustav Klimt Vienna, 1956, no. 75 (illustrated).
F. Novotny and J. Dobai, Gustav Klimt Salzburg, 1967, p. 334, no. 136 (illustrated; illustrated again, fig. 50).
J. Dobai and S. Coradeschi, L'opera completa di Klimt, Milan, 1978, p. 102, no. 123 (illustrated; illustrated again in color, fig. XXVI).
F. Novotny, "im Zusammenhang–Im Gegensatz" in Gustav Klimt Goldene Pforte, Salzburg, 1978, p. 215.
J. Dobai, Gustav Klimt Landscapes, London, 1981, pp. 19 and 72 (illustrated, p. 19, fig. 22; illustrated again in color, p. 73, pl. 19).
S. Partsch, Klimt: Life and Work, London, 1990, pp. 103 and 285 (illustrated in color, p. 102, fig. 30).
G. Frodl, Klimt, Cologne, 1992, p. 144 (illustrated in color, p. 145).
G. Frodl, Gustav Klimt in der Österreichischen Galerie Belvedere Wien, Salzburg, 1992, p. 85 (illustrated in color).
A. Weidinger, Neues zu den Landschaften Gustav Klimts, Ph.D. diss., Salzburg, 1992, p. 101.
G. Fliedl, Gustav Klimt The World in Female Form, Cologne, 1998, p. 95 (illustrated).
S. Partsch, Klimt: Life and Work, Germering, 1999, p. 103, no. 30 (illustrated in color, p. 129).
S. Koja, ed., Gustav Klimt Landscapes, New York, 2002, p. 215 (illustrated in color, pl. 21; detail illustrated in color).
S. Lillie, Was einmal war. Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens, Vienna, 2003, p. 204.
S. Koja, "'Frisch weht der Wind der Heimat zu...' Neue Beobachtungen zur Topographie von Klimts Landschaftsbildern" in Belvedere. Zeitschrift für Bildende Kunst, 2007, pp. 214-215.
S. Lillie and G. Gaugusch, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, New York, 2007, pp. 43-44, 71-72, 78, 86 and 91 (illustrated in color).
A. Weidinger, ed., Gustav Klimt Munich, 2007, p. 281, no. 174 (illustrated in color).
Exhibited
Vienna Secession, XVIII. Ausstellung, Gustav Klimt November-December 1903, no. 3 or 4.
Berlin, Zweite Ausstellung des Deutschen Künstlerbunds, 1905, p. 21, no. 112.
Vienna, Kunstschau, 1908, p. 47, no. 9.
Venice, IX. Esposizione Internazionale di Venezia, 1910, p. 60, no. 3 (titled I faggi).
Kunsthaus Zürich, Ein Jahrhundert Wiener Malerei, May-June 1918, p. 12, no. 60 or 66.
Vienna, Österreichische Staatsgalerie, Neuerwerbungen 1918-1921, June 1921, p. 11, no. 52.
Vienna Secession, Klimt-Gedächtnisausstellung, XCIX. Ausstellung der Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Wiener Secession, June-July 1928, p. 12, no. 39.
(possibly) Bern Kunsthalle, 1937, no. 4
Vienna, Ausstellungshaus Friedrichstrasse, Gustav Klimt Ausstellung, February-March 1943, no. 10 (illustrated).
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Austria, 1956, no. 121.
Kunsthalle Bern, Kunst aus Österreich, February-March 1957, no. 44 (dated 1905).
St. Gallen, Kunstmuseum, Kunst aus Österreich, 1957, no. 29.
Tokyo, Sezon Museum, Vienna at the Turn of the Century–Klimt, Schiele and their Time, October-December 1989.
Madrid, Museo Reina Sofia, Viena 1900, October 1993-January 1994, p. 189, no. 347 (illustrated in color).
Los Angeles County Museum of Art and New York, Neue Galerie, Gustav Klimt Five Paintings from the Collection of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, April-October 2006 (illustrated in color).
Belvedere Wien, Gustav Klimt und Die Kunstschau 1908, October 2008-January 2009, p. 290 (illustrated in color; dated 1904).
Maine, Portland Art Museum; Washington, D.C., The Phillips Collection; Minneapolis Institute of Arts; New Orleans Museum of Art and Seattle Art Museum, Seeing Nature: Landscape Masterworks from the Paul G. Allen Family Collection, October 2015-May 2017, pp. 16, 18-19, 26, 29 and 86, no. 18 (illustrated in color, p. 87; illustrated in color again on the cover).
Special Notice
On occasion, Christie's has a direct financial interest in the outcome of the sale of certain lots consigned for sale. This will usually be where it has guaranteed to the Seller that whatever the outcome of the auction, the Seller will receive a minimum sale price for the work. This is known as a minimum price guarantee. This is such a lot.
Sale Room Notice
Please note that this painting has been requested by the Neue Galerie for their exhibition Gustav Klimt Landscapes from February-May 2024.