Portrait of Gertha Felssovanyi

In this 1902 portrait Klimt returns to the almost life-sized rectangular format that he had previously used on Nuda Veritas in 1899. In the same year Klimt painted Gertha Felsovanyi he also made the Portrait of Serena Lederer, the wife an industrial magnate from Austria, making these two artworks the first portraits he painted in years. The lack of portraits in the years from 1898 to 1902 can be easily explained: Klimt concentrated all his efforts on the assignment for the Beethoven Frieze, which had to be finished in time for the 14 th Exhibition of the Vienna Secession. There is hardly any information on the person of Gertha Felsovanyi. It is unclear who she was, where she came from and where her life went after this portrait. It is almost as if Klimt had a premonition that this information would not last for the ages: the portrait of Gertha Felsovanyi is characterized by its paleness, fragility and haziness of its central figure. Was it her own wish to be portrayed in that manner or was it an affliction that gave her this frail appearance? She seems to almost want to step out of the painting and yet remains distant and inapproachable. Gertha Felsovanyi stands upright but the outline of her figure is diffused and almost dissolves in the “spaceless” background. What might be reason for the lack of detail in the background that would let the beholder know where the figure is standing? It is also striking that her feet remain invisible while her full, brown hair touches the upper boundary of the painting. She looks directly at the beholder with big, sad eyes. Lips and cheeks seem flushed in an almost unnatural shade of red. Gertha’s body is veiled from top to bottom, her figure indistinct. There are no arms or legs visible; only her folded hands that appear out of the depths of her patterned green dress. Klimt, who is usually rather clear and even explicit in his depiction of women, remains unusually vague in his depiction of Gertha Felsovanyi.