Woman in Gold

I am mostly procrastinating at the moment - I need to write this blog post, which I can't seem to persuade myself to do and I need to pack, which I also can't persuade myself to do. I am very much more inclined to plonk myself down in front of the television and watch a film and eat. Winter is definitely coming. All I need however, is one last push and then I can have some well earned time off, so here goes:

I watched 'Woman in Gold' starring Ryan Reynolds and Helen Mirren the other day. It is about the painting of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Klimt. The mere mention of the word Klimt should now show you why I was inspired to buy some gold leaf.



The film was about Adele Bloch-Bauer's niece - Maria Altmann's - journey to take back the painting from the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna after it was stolen from her family by the Nazis. I won't offer any spoilers, suffice to say it was quite a moving watch. It also got me thinking about the age old question of what is art? Watching this film, made a very personal portrait become so much more than just a work of art. It became about politics, identity, and so, so, so much money. I personally think that the more they fought over the piece and the more monetary value it was worth, the more devalued it became as a work of art, or the more it lost it's identity as a work of art. It became a thing, an argument, a price tag which isn't what it should have been. It was always a lovingly rendered portrait of someone's Aunt, Wife, Sister, Daughter, Friend, not a Mastercard bill or an icon of Vienna. It was about a person and a moment in time captured by Klimt and this is important. I feel like, at least to me, that is what art is. It can be anything, but it has to be the artist showing the viewer something, or capturing a moment for themselves, distilling a feeling or a memory or an idea in whatever way portrays it best. As a viewer, you are then entitled to think what you wish about the work, like it or love it, value it or hate it, own it or bin it. Beauty and art after all, are in the eye of the beholder.