Stealing Klimt (2009)

Stealing Klimt recounts the struggle by 90yearold Maria Altmann to recover five Gustav Klimt paintings stolen from her family by the Nazis in Vienna From the end of the War up until last year these paintings hung in the Austrian National Gallery The film covers Marias early life in glittering findesiècle Vienna her dramatic escape from Nazi terror and her courageous fight to recover the five Klimts against all the odds Marias fight to reclaim the paintings eventually took her to the United States Supreme Court and pitted her not just against Austria but also against the US Government which asked the Supreme Court to reject her case After Maria finally emerged victorious in 2006 one of the paintings the Golden Portrait of Marias aunt Adele Bloch Bauer was sold to cosmetics tycoon Ronald Lauder for 135m becoming the worlds most expensive painting ever sold The other four paintings were recently auctioned at Christies for record prices