Two Gustav Klimt masterpieces on loan to the National Gallery of Canada

The National Gallery of Canada offers a rare opportunity to view three paintings by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), one of the greatest painters of the twentieth century, owing to a long term loan from a private collection. Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer (1914-16), a commanding example of Klimt’s trademark female portraiture, and Forest Slope in Unterach on the Attersee (1916), a lush example of Klimt’s lesser-known, yet equally impressive landscape paintings, are now on view in the European galleries, along with Hope I (1903), which the Gallery purchased in 1970. Hope 1 is the only painting by Klimt in a Canadian public collection. “This long-term display is an unprecedented opportunity to see three exceptional Klimt paintings together in Canada, ” said NGC Deputy Director and Chief Curator Paul Lang. “It enables the Gallery to offer a complete survey of the artist’s work spanning two decades of his career. A