Adele was a wealthy Viennese socialite, art patron, and salon hostess. Her husband, sugar industrialist Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, commissioned Klimt to paint her in 1903. Klimt worked on the portrait for four years, producing more than 100 preparatory drawings.
What makes her story particularly fascinating is that Klimt painted Adele twice. The second portrait, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II, was completed in 1912–13 and is now privately owned.