Beguiling, Boastful and Intricate...

The front-page news about the sale of Gustav Klimt's famous, shimmering gold portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer for an unconfirmed $135 million made me surprisingly happy. To be completely honest, my proprietary instinct would rather have all five Klimt paintings stay here in LA, yet I have to admit that this iconic painting is ideally suited for the focused collection and exquisite environment of the Neue Galerie in New York. After hearing this news, I jumped into the car and hurried over to LACMA to say goodbye to the five canvases which after June 30 will leave LA for the Neue Galerie, where they are going to be on view for a few months. The fate of the other four paintings is still uncertain but let's hope that at least one of them--another mesmerizing full-length portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer--will be acquired by a public museum as well.