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Adele Bloch-Bauer II

The Austrian museum where they resided after the war was reluctant to return them to their rightful owners, hence a protracted court battle in the United States and in Austria (see Republic of Austria v. Altmann) ensued, which resulted in five Gustav Klimt paintings being returned to Maria Altmann, the niece of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, in January 2006.

Hubertus Czernin

The articles led to the passage of Austria's Art Restitution Law, which allowed the family of Maria Altmann, the niece of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, to pursue claims successfully to the Klimt paintings that had been looted from her uncle during World War II (see Republic of Austria v. Altmann).

Maria Altmann

The case, Republic of Austria v. Altmann, ended up in the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled in 2004 that Austria was not immune from such a lawsuit.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I

After a protracted court battle in the United States and in Austria (see Republic of Austria v. Altmann), binding arbitration by a panel of Austrian judges established in 2006 that Maria Altmann was the rightful owner of this and four other paintings by Klimt.

Republic of Austria v. Altmann

Adele Bloch-Bauer, the subject of two of the paintings, had written in her last will: "Meine 2 Porträts und 4 Landschaften von Gustav Klimt, bitte ich meinen Ehegatten nach seinem Tode der österr. Staats-Galerie in Wien zu hinterlassen" - I ask my husband to bequeath my 2 portraits and the 4 landscapes by Gustav Klimt to the Austrian state gallery in Vienna after his death.

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Adele's Wish features interviews with Altmann, her lawyer, E. Randol Schoenberg, and leading experts from around the world.

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