Around 1894, Gustav Klimt was commissioned to paint “Portrait of a Lady”, which depicts Marie Breunig, the wife of a Viennese bakery owner. The painting is quite large measuring 66.1” x 33.1” (168 x 84 cm). It is assumed Klimt used a photograph for reference to help with capturing the detail of this portrait. While some consider working from photographs taboo, Klimt’s subtle color work and meticulous refinement in some areas, combined with abstraction in others took this painting to a muc...
