Some of the world’s most famous artworks are nomadic. They travel from one institution to another, borrowed and lent across museums so that art admirers in continents too far to touch can view them. They are gently packaged and shipped overseas, ushered into temporary homes by art handlers who take their jobs very seriously. (And sometimes not so seriously.) It’s an arduous ordeal, one not without its hiccups, but essential nonetheless.
For example, without these kinds of arrangements, the fine people of Boston wouldn’t be able to feast their eyes on the unfinished work of “The Kiss” painter, Gustav Klimt. And that would be a shame.
Adam and Eve, Gustav Klimt (Austrian, 1862–1918), 1917-1918, Oil on canvas *Belvedere, Vienna * © Belvedere, Vienna *Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
–
Gustav Klimt and Emilie Flöge in the garden of the Villa Oleander on the Attersee, 1910 Photographer: Hans Böhler Photogravure Neue Galerie New York
Gustav Klimt in front of the entrance to his studio at Josefstädter Strasse 21, 1912 Photographer: Moritz Nähr (1859-1945) Vintage gelatin silver print Neue Galerie New York
Vienna Secession artists at the opening of the fourteenth exhibition (Beethoven exhibition): seated on the “throne,” Gustav Klimt: immediately in the front of him wearing a hat, Kolomon Moser, Vienna, April 1902 Photographer: Moritz Nähr (1859-1945) Vintage gelatin silver print Neue Galerie New York
