Portrait of Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein

In 1905 the Wittgensteins were among the richest families in Vienna, their fortune built on steel, their house a gathering point for the city's musicians and thinkers. Margaret was the clever, headstrong daughter, and this portrait was painted around the time of her marriage. Klimt gives her a vast white gown that seems to dissolve into the pale wall behind her, so the whole tall canvas becomes a study in shifting whites, with only her face and dark hair fixed. Margaret herself was unimpressed. She thought Klimt had aged her, and after a short spell on display the picture was put away in an attic. Two of her brothers were the philosopher Ludwig and the pianist Paul Wittgenstein.