Gustav Klimt - Portrait Of Eugenia Primavesi 1914
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Portrait Of Eugenia Primavesi 1914
140x84cm oil/canvas
Toyota Municipal Museum of Art
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From Tate Liverpool:
The Primavesis were keen patrons of Austrian art. They had shares in the Weiner Werkstatte, commissioned Hoffmann to build their country house, Palais Stoclet in Brussels and they owned a number of Klimt’s paintings. In February 1912, Eugenia Primavesi visited the artist’s studio to commission a portrait of her daughter, Mada. A year later, Klimt was invited by Otto Primavesi to paint his wife. She is wearing a bright kimono that was fashionable in Vienna at the time. Its busy design is almost integrated into the floral background, painted in bright yellow. An area of green behind the sitter is suggestive of an outdoor or garden setting and in the top right-hand corner is an oriental bird motif.
Eugenia was an actress before marrying the banker and glass manufacturer Otto Primavesi. She was well known in the fashion world of Vienna and deeply involved with the Weiner Werkstatte. She financed many of their projects and threw lavish parties for the artists and their circle.
Klimt knew his sitter well, which is perhaps why this is one of his most naturalistic portraits, despite his typical stylized treatment of her body. He also did numerous sketches in preparation for this painting. Mada Primavesi later recalled her visits with her mother to the artist’s studio:
“ We went every few months to Vienna and stayed about ten days...
He made about two hundred sketches.”