Amalie Zuckerkandl
An almost finished face emerges from a still drawn body. The portrait was to become a worldly image, rich in patterns and colors. The war slowed down his execution, then Klimt's death interrupted him for good.
Why is Amalie Zuckerkandl's portrait unfinished?
Klimt began portraiture around 1913 -1914, but the couple's move and then the First World War interrupted the sessions. Amalie worked as a nurse in Lemberg in 1915 -1916. The painter took up the canvas in 1917, moved forward the face, the background and the first layer of the body, then died suddenly on February 6, 1918.
Incompletion is therefore not a desired effect. However, it reveals an exciting method: Klimt first fixes the identity through the face, then poses the silhouette, then constructs the garment and decor directly on the canvas. The unpainted part acts like an x-ray of his workshop.
Who was Amalie Zuckerkandl?
Amalie Schlesinger married Otto Zuckerkandl, a Viennese surgeon and urologist, in 1895. The couple has three children: Viktor, Eleonore - called Nora - and Hermine. Amalie thus finds herself linked to a family where medicine, literature, architecture and modern art constantly intersect.
Otto collects and supports the artists of his time. He entrusted Josef Hoffmann with the decoration of his study and commissioned Kolo Moser to create an ex-libris. His sister-in-law, Berta Zuckerkandl-Szeps, runs one of the most active salons in Vienna. Klimt therefore does not arrive in a foreign universe: his portrait therefore does not arrive in a foreign universe: his portrait belongs to a network of sponsors who defend Viennese modernity.
Amalie is not reducible to "a collector's wife", however. During the war, she followed Otto to Lemberg and worked as a nurse in the hospital he directed. This concrete experience partly explains why the portrait remained immobilized for so long.
Read the portrait from the face to the bare canvas
The contrast between the finished face and the outlined body allows us to observe Klimt's successive decisions without guessing them under opaque layers.
Face first
The look, cheekbones, mouth and hair are already individualized. The resemblance forms the stable core of the portrait.
A monumental square
With a side of 128 cm, the canvas is not a study. Klimt prepares a life-size presence inscribed in a decorative surface.
The dress as a construction site
The bust lines indicate volume without filling it. Certain keys suggest the direction of a garment yet to be invented.
The green background
Part of the background is already laid. It detaches the light face and announces a colorful space, not a room described in perspective.
Mobile contours
Drawing is not a simple academic setup: several lines correct each other, overlap and keep the research visible.
An eloquent absence
The blank canvas does not have to be mentally "completed". It documents exactly where the work left off.
From order to permanent interruption
The dates vary slightly depending on the records, as Klimt works in shifts. The preparatory studies and archives nevertheless make it possible to reconstruct a solid sequence.
The order
Otto Zuckerkandl commissions the portrait. Preparatory drawings indicate that the project was initiated before the war.
Lemberg
Amalie works as a nurse in her husband's hospital. Distance and conflict delay Viennese sessions.
The recovery
Klimt advances the head, the background and the first coloring. He received two payments totaling 4,000 crowns in November and December.
Death
After a stroke, Klimt died on February 6 at age 55. The canvas remains in the exact state of his last campaign.
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The delay of the portrait also tells of an era
The First World War disrupted careers, families and artistic commissions. For Amalie, it means a departure to Lemberg - today Lviv - and a job as a nurse. For Klimt, it corresponds to the last years of a language which moves away from golden mosaic towards more frank colors and freer backgrounds.
The portrait should therefore not be told as a simple session interrupted one afternoon. Several years separate the order from the resumption. In the meantime, the Austro-Hungarian Empire weakened, private networks were transformed and the life of the model changed profoundly.
Berta, journalist, translator and salonnière, gives an idea of the cultural environment in which the family participates. Its show connects artists, architects, writers and political leaders. Amalie occupies a more discreet place in the archives, but the monumental portrait commissioned from Klimt testifies to the same commitment to modern art.
Compare four late portraits
These connections do not reconstruct a lost setting. They only show the solutions that Klimt used around 1906 -1918 to unite face, clothing and surface.
Fritza Riedler
The armchair, the dress and the background form a completely closed decorative architecture.
Elisabeth Lederer
The white silhouette floats in front of Asian figures and light colors.
Friederike Maria Beer
The dress and the background collide in a profusion of figures and diagonals.
Fan lady
The natural face stands out from a field of flowers, birds and Far Eastern motifs.
After Klimt: divorce, sale and persecution
Otto and Amalie divorced in 1919. The portrait was documented no later than 1928 in the collection of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer. The Belvedere archives then indicate a possible return to Amalie, then a visit to her daughter Hermine Müller-Hofmann and the Neue Galerie de Vienne. The work later belonged to Vita Künstler and her husband Gustav Künstler and the Neue Galerie de Vienne. The work later belonged to Vita Künstler and her husband Gustav Künstler, before being donated to Belvedere in 1988.
This string must be presented accurately. It does not allow each change of ownership to be automatically attributed to dispossession. The institutional file provides steps, some with a question mark. An honest provenance retains these uncertainties instead of filling them.
Amalie's personal story is tragically established. Converted to Judaism upon her marriage, she was persecuted after the Anschluss. In 1942, she and her daughter Nora were deported to the Bełowsc killing center and murdered.
What the unfinished reveals about Klimt's method
Preparatory drawings show that Klimt seeks posture before color. On the canvas, it stabilizes the head, traces the body and leaves open areas intended for fabrics and decor. Amalie's portrait makes this passage exceptionally readable.
The background is not entirely planned on a separate model: Klimt develops the shapes directly with a brush. This is why completed portraits can juxtapose a very naturalistic head and an almost autonomous surface, made of flowers, figures, textiles and voids.
In a reproduction or visual study, these differences in density must be respected. Darkening the lines, filling the dress or standardizing the background would destroy the document. The work does not lack a single final layer: it shows several simultaneous stages.
Where to see Amalie Zuckerkandl today?
The painting belongs to Belvedere and has inventory number 7700. The current notice indicates this in the upper Belvedere. The museum preserves twenty-four Klimt oil paintings and presents the largest collection of his works in the world.
On site, start by looking at the face from a distance: it seems almost autonomous. Then approach the shoulders and arms, where the features still seek pose. Finally, return to the green background to observe how an already decided color dialogues with vast reserves.
As the hanging may change, check it official notice of Belvedere before your visit. It also gives the dimensions, origin and two freely accessible files.
Two portraits of Klimt actually available
No reproductions of Amalie Zuckerkandl are currently active in the catalog. These two links have been checked and offer works close in date or collection.
1917 -1918 · LAST KLIMTPortrait of Johanna StaudeAnother interrupted, more advanced portrait, where the face, boa and blue blouse reveal Klimt's latest manner.
See reproduction →
1917 -1918 · LATE PORTRAITLady in WhiteA light figure and a color freed from gold, to compare Klimt's portrait transformation at the end of his life.
Discover the work →Continue around Klimt and Vienna 1900
Each link corresponds to an active collection and its number of works has been checked in the catalog.
Works associated with the great Viennese collection.
Explore →42 WORKSPortraits of Gustav KlimtSponsors, models, fabrics and metamorphoses of the decor.
Explore →103 WORKSArt Nouveau portraitsFaces, lines and identities at the turn of the century.
Explore →147 WORKSWomen and eleganceFashion, representation and modernity Art Nouveau.
Explore →218 WORKSViennese secessionThe decorative break of Klimt and his contemporaries.
Explore →GENERAL COLLECTIONArt NouveauA wider selection of motifs, portraits and landscapes.
Explore →Amalie Zuckerkandl in 12 answers
Who was Amalie Zuckerkandl?
Amalie Schlesinger married surgeon Otto Zuckerkandl in 1895. It belongs to an important medical, artistic and literary network in modern Vienna.
When did Klimt begin his portrait?
Studies and archives place the start of the project around 1913 -1914, with a significant resumption in 1917.
Why is the painting unfinished?
After several interruptions due to the move and the war, Klimt took over the work but died on February 6, 1918 before completing it.
Was Amalie a nurse?
Yes. In 1915 -1916, she worked as a nurse in Lemberg in the hospital run by her husband, which delayed the sessions.
What are the dimensions of the portrait?
The canvas is square and measures 128 × 128 cm.
Is the painting signed?
No. The Belvedere's notice describes it as unsigned, which is consistent with its interrupted state.
Which part is the most completed?
The face and hair are the most advanced areas. The body, clothing and part of the background remain largely defined or covered with a first layer.
Can we know what decor Klimt planned?
Not with certainty. Late portraits suggest Asian or floral motifs, but no exact reconstructions are documented.
What bond unites Amalie and Berta Zuckerkandl?
Berta is his sister-in-law. Journalist and salonnière, she plays a major public role in Viennese cultural life.
What happened to Amalie during the Holocaust?
Persecuted as a Jew after the Anschluss, she was deported with her daughter Nora to Bełowsec in 1942 and murdered.
How did the painting enter Belvedere?
After several documented owners, Vita Künstler donated it to Belvedere in 1988.
Where to see Amalie Zuckerkandl today?
The museum's current record places the portrait at the Upper Belvedere, Vienna, under inventory number 7700.
What can be verified
Dates, dimensions, work stages, payments, provenance and biographical elements are based on the records of Belvedere and the Gustav Klimt Database.
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