Gustav Klimt's 1897 portrait depicts Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona, once the leader of the Osu tribe in present-day Ghana.
W&K – Wienerroither & KohlbacherGustav Klimt’s portrayal of Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona (1897).
A long-lost Gustav Klimt painting has finally reappeared in Austria decades after it disappeared around the 1940s.
Gustav Klimt was an Austrian Symbolist artist, primarily known for his paintings of women and his use of bold colors and decorative elements. But in the 1890s, Klimt painted William Nii Nortey Dowuona, an African prince who once led the Osu tribe in present-day Ghana.
After World War II, that portrait was considered lost — until an Austrian couple brought a photograph of the painting to Wienerroither & Kohlbacher Gallery in Vienna in 2023. Despite its initially poor condition, the painting was found to be a genuine Klimt piece after an expert examination.
Now, this historic artwork is on display at TEFAF Maastricht in the Netherlands, where it’s expected to fetch $16 million.
A Lost Gustav Klimt Artwork Suddenly Reappears In A Vienna Art Gallery
In 2023, a couple walked into the Wienerroither & Kohlbacher Gallery in Vienna, Austria, with a photo of a painting they had in their possession.
They told a gallery assistant that the painting was an authentic work from Austrian Symbolist Gustav Klimt. However, the poor condition of the artwork — dusty, grimy, and crudely framed — cast doubt over its legitimacy.
“It was not imaginable that this was a Klimt; it was very dirty,” Lui Wienerroither, the co-owner of the gallery, told The Washington Post.
But shortly after the couple left the gallery, co-owner Ebi Kohlbacher tracked them down at a nearby cafe. The gallery then called in art expert Alfred Weidinger to conduct a thorough examination of the painting.
The painting, measuring over two feet high, portrays Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona, a former leader of the Osu tribe in what’s now Ghana. The illustration captures the African prince in exquisite detail — but the reason why Klimt was able to capture his likeness is tragic.
In 1896, Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona and other members of his tribe were put on display at the Tiergarten am Schüttel in Vienna as part of an ethnographic exhibition — better known now as a “human zoo.” These exploitative displays were popular across Europe in the 19th century.
“These people were dehumanized in these exhibitions,” historian Marie Rodet said in an interview with The Washington Post. “They were used and exploited, and in a context in which actually it was almost about affirming the superiority of the white race over the rest of the world.”
Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona and his tribe remained on display for about six months, during which time about 10,000 people viewed them per day. Gustav Klimt, and another artist, Franz Matsch, were two of those viewers, and they both painted their own versions of the prince.
A patron likely commissioned both artists to create the portrait, but preferred Matsch’s painting, perhaps explaining why Klimt didn’t sign his.
Despite the clear lack of an artist’s signature, Weidinger confirmed that there was a fading Gustav Klimt estate stamp on the back of the artwork’s canvas, which helped verify the piece’s authenticity.
Who Was Austrian Artist Gustav Klimt?
Public DomainAustrian artist Gustav Klimt in 1914.
Gustav Klimt was born in Austria on July 14, 1862. Both of his parents were known for their artistic talent, and Klimt clearly inherited that.
As a young man, Klimt worked as an academic muralist. But then, in 1897, Klimt and other Austrian artists spearheaded the Vienna Secession, an art movement that encouraged the creation of unconventional art.
Gustav Klimt rose to prominence for his depictions of the female form and his use of bold, vibrant shapes and colors. Today, he is perhaps best known for his painting The Kiss, created between 1907 and 1908.
Public DomainGustav Klimt’s most famous piece, The Kiss.
The same year Klimt joined the Vienna Secession, he completed the portrait of the African prince. The painting features floral motifs and other designs that would become commonplace in his work from that point on.
“The composition and painterly execution point to Klimt’s turn towards decorative elements, which were to characterize his later work, and are directly linked to his pioneering portraits of the following years,” Weidinger stated in press materials, according to Artnet.
The portrait of the Osu prince is expected to fetch millions at TEFAF Maastricht, a fine art fair held in the Netherlands.
Another one of Klimt’s famous pieces, the Portrait of Miss Lieser (1917), sold for $32 million at auction last year. In 2023, his Lady With a Fan (1917–18) sold for a whopping $108 million. This time, Klimt’s portrait of Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona is expected to sell for $16 million.
“Klimt gives him such a dignity and warmth,” Wienerroither says. “It is touching, because you feel this is a person you know.”
The allure of Klimt’s work not only stems from his eye-catching illustrations, but also from their troubled history after his death in 1918. Many of his works were seized by Nazis during World War II, and some of his masterpieces were destroyed forever during the conflict.
The fact that Klimt’s historic portrait of an African prince survived for so long — and that it’s the only Klimt painting on the market today — makes it especially desirable among art collectors worldwide.
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