Austria says it cannot afford to buy back Klimt masterpieces ($300 million dollars)

ap on Bakersfield Californian ^ | 2/2/06 | William J. Kole - ap

[dfwgator]

Count me in as one of those folks who never would have heard of Klimt, had it not been for "Back to School."

[MinuteGal]

Oh, lucky you. We disagree on Klimt's art, but we are both lovers of Mozart's art.

Have a wonderful time in beautiful Austria and musical, waltzy Vienna.

"Ist Wien, ist Wien, mein Wien"

Leni

[starfish923]

People who don't like modern art most likely are into "realism".
Let me provide you with a "clue" ~ BUY A CAMERA!

Wrong.
You jumped to the wrong conclusion about me.
I go the other way. I like the OLDER art.

Let me provide you with a "clue" ~ BUY A BRAIN!

[starfish923]

Oh, lucky you. We disagree on Klimt's art, but we are both lovers of Mozart's art. Have a wonderful time in beautiful Austria and musical, waltzy Vienna. "Ist Wien, ist Wien, mein Wien Leni

Leni:
Thank you, I will!
Natürlich gehen wir nach Salzburg.
Vienna is one of my very favorite cities in the world....and I've been to MANY.

P.S. There are many, many, many, many paintings and artists who are MUCH worse than Klimt. I just prefer more classical art.

[Sisku Hanne]

Thanks for the link. Klimt is a favorite.

[dighton]

I don’t get no respect from my wife, it’s on public exhibition.

[starfish923]

Sounds like a good time. I have never been on the European continent, that would definitely be on the itinerary if I ever make it there. That and Czechoslovakia. I have some bohemian in me on my dad's side. ;-) Bohunk Power :)

I'm going on a tour to see Prague. I have wanted to see Prague for a long time. I also have some Bohemian blood in me, on my mother's side. The name in the Bible was Janecek. Pretty common, I understand, lol, like me.

The tour includes Vienna and Salzburg, two places I plan to revisit again and again. It also includes München, another city for repeated visits.
The tour includes Budapest, which I saw in the early 1980's. It was very nice way back when, considering it was communist. I guess I'll see it again.

Budapest must have SOME heckofa tourist bureau or something. I dunno. They get included in EVERY tour, no matter where it starts or end. Are you going to the moon? Well, first there's a stop in Frankfurt, then one in Budapest. That's the deal. Lol.

[PetroniusMaximus]

"Natürlich gehen wir nach Salzburg."

If your looking for a great place to stay, try the "Goldener Hirsch".

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/search/hotel_detail.html?propertyID=98&localeoverwrite=

[Cicero]

Klimt is an interesting painter. One glance, and you recognize his style. But it's not worth hundreds of millions.

The art markets are unbalanced. Old masters go for less than impressionists and modernists. Important as some of the latter are, the old masters should be worth more.

Let the Getty acquire these if someone wants to put up the money. They will still be available for people to see.

[blau993]

My advice - frame some nice prints in place of the originals. Most won't know the difference.

NPR did a piece on this a week or two ago. The woman has had for years a print of the painting of her aunt hanging in her living room and said she had no plans to replace it with the original even if she prevailed. She feels strongly that the paintings should be in a museum so that the public can see and appreciate them (or not appreciate them, as the case may be).

[muawiyah]

Guy is definitely "modern", but certainly not contemporary.

I like Medieval cartoons myself.

[HostileTerritory]

Good for Mrs. Altmann. The painting will grace the wall of a museum in the United States or Israel, two countries that took in refugees created by Austrian Nazis.

Austrians have no desire to have Jews living in their country, yet they're desperate to hang on to a painting of one. Too bad, so sad.

[muawiyah]

Not "of one", but "owned by one". It gives Austrians some sort of thrill to know they have succeeded in stealing things from Jews.

[HostileTerritory]

Wasn't Adele Bloch-Bauer Jewish?

[muawiyah]

I gather she was since her husband was Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer. He is identified in several sites as a Jewish industrialist. The Austrians stole all his stuff.

[Republicanprofessor]

Art ping.

Let Sam Cree, Woofie, or me know if you want on or off this art ping list.

[Sam Cree]

"Gehrer said in statement...the government's Council of Ministers could not find the cash in its budget to keep the paintings in Austria, where they are widely considered to be national treasures."

A sure sign of socialism when the government considers private property to be a national treasure.

[Hildy]

FINALLY! A post you wrote that I actually agree with! :)

[muawiyah]

Sometimes private property is a "national treasure". Sometime it's not. And vice versa.

Socialism has to do with a belief in who/what should OWN stuff. By now you should have figured out that Socialists don't particularly care what anything is worth, or what value it might have to society. They are concerned only with power.

[Sam Cree]

Private property has problems in socialist countries, you may have noticed it. Other than that, while socialism does concentrate power and is totalitarian, it is most certainly concerned with the disposition and value of property, labor and everything else under the sun. What it is not concerned with is a free market.

But to the subject at hand, in my view, when a property is referred to as a national treasure, that's getting close to an assertation of ownership by the people (state) rather than the individual. Which is what socialism does, assigns ownership of lots of things to the people instead of the individual.