A Looting Battle

The Amazing Journey of Gustav Klimt’s Stolen (Then Returned) Masterpiece

How did an interview with the retired owner of a Los Angeles dress shop about her Aunt Adele turn into a tale of sex and art, the Holocaust and restitution, and a legal battle of nearly a decade? Washington Post writer Anne-Marie O’Connor, author of The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt’s Masterpiece, “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer,” explained how she stumbled upon the long and twisted journey of one of Gustav Klimt’s most famous paintings, and why it captured her imagination. It’s a story that stretches from …