: In the late 1990s, Maria Altmann, Adele’s niece, began a decade-long legal crusade to reclaim the work from the Austrian government. The case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court ( Republic of Austria v. Altmann ).
The "Lady in Gold" became a symbol of the systematic art theft perpetrated by the Nazis during World War II.
: In 2006, an arbitration panel in Vienna ruled in favor of Altmann. Today, the painting is permanently displayed at the Neue Galerie in New York City.
: The painting is noted for its "flat," decorative composition where Adele's realistic face and hands emerge from a sea of geometric and organic gold motifs. History of Looting and Restitution