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Mäda Primavesi (1903–2000)

Gustav Klimt Austrian
1912–13
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 829

Mäda Primavesi’s expression and bearing convey a remarkable degree of confidence for a nine-year-old girl. A strong-willed and active child, she vividly remembered posing while Klimt made numerous sketches, experimenting with her position, setting, and outfit. In the end, she wore a dress custom-made by the couture designer Emilie Flöge, the artist’s close companion. Bright blossoms on the girl’s clothing and in the background evoke youth and delicacy. The portrait attests to the sophistication of Mäda’s parents, Otto and Eugenia, who were ardent patrons of Vienna’s cutting-edge artistic circles.

This painting was seized by the Nazis from Jenny Pulitzer Steiner in 1938 in Vienna and restituted to her in 1951.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Mäda Primavesi (1903–2000)
  • Artist: Gustav Klimt (Austrian, Baumgarten 1862–1918 Vienna)
  • Date: 1912–13
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 59 x 43 1/2 in. (149.9 x 110.5 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of André and Clara Mertens, in memory of her mother, Jenny Pulitzer Steiner, 1964
  • Object Number: 64.148
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

Audio

Cover Image for 6017. Mäda Primavesi (1903–2000)

6017. Mäda Primavesi (1903–2000)

Gallery 829

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My name is Alison Hokanson and I work in the Department of European Paintings here at The Met.

This is a work by the Austrian painter, Gustav Klimt. It's a portrait of a young girl named Mäda Primavesi. Mäda was the daughter of the banker and industrialist Otto Primavesi and his wife, Eugenia, who were important patrons of cutting-edge art and design. She was probably eight years old when Klimt started the painting.

As was common for Klimt, he made numerous sketches of Mäda, experimenting with pose, with costumes, and with background motifs. In the final version, Mäda is wearing a white dress ornamented with beaded flowers, which was created at Klimt's suggestion by his companion, the designer Emilie Flöge. Mäda is standing on a rug ornamented with natural motifs: flowers, birds, fish, even a dog. By the time that Klimt made this portrait late in his career, he had already developed a signature portrait style, in which the sitters were portrayed amidst a symphony of colorful and abstract patterns.

What's most remarkable to me about this painting is the pose. Mäda has a firm stance. She has one arm akimbo. She is unsmiling and she seems very mature and self-assured. We have photographs of Mäda from around this time period and this is actually an extraordinarily good likeness. I mean she was apparently a tomboy, a very assertive child. And so this is, I think, in a sense very much how she was.

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