Art and commerce: Gustav Klimt (1862–1918)

Together with his brother Ernst and Franz Matsch, Gustav Klimt was given a number of important public commissions. After the scandal sparked by the Jugendstil ceiling frescos he painted for the new university building in Vienna, he had to rely on private patrons. He became the most sought-after portraitist of Viennese patrician society. His portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer was auctioned following its restitution in 2006 for more than 150 million dollars, making it the most expensive painting ever sold at the time.