The Rediscovered Portrait of an African Prince by Gustav Klimt

The Portrait in Question

Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona shows a Black man in a ¾ position, turned to his left. He has short hair, a beard, and a moustache. He holds a serious expression with his gaze fixed beyond the canvas. Moreover, he wears a patterned cream toga-like garment that leaves the right side of his chest bare. Klimt used a palette composed of earthy colors: beige, black, browns, dark yellow, and greens. The background features blurred plants and flowers.

Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt was an Austrian artist and a founder of the Vienna Secession, a movement that opposed the constrictions of the Austrian Academy. He is best known for his Symbolist paintings with golden backgrounds and colorful figures. The portrait belongs to an earlier stage of his artistic career, which explains why it looks different from his most famous style seen in The Kiss (1907–1908) and Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907).

An African Prince

Researchers identified the man in the portrait as Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona from the Ga people in West Africa. In the history of Western art, Black people usually appeared as faithful servants and enslaved people, more objects than humans. Painters rarely granted them individuality. However, Lui Wienerroither, co-owner of the gallery Wienerroither & Kohlbacher where the portrait was found, believes Klimt depicted the prince with dignity.

Part of a Human Exhibition

If Klimt painted the prince with dignity, the circumstances that made the portrait possible are both terrifying and shameful. How did Klimt meet the prince without traveling to Africa? Well, Klimt painted this man when he visited Tiergarten am Schüttel, a zoo with human exhibitions. This was one of many ethnographic exhibitions in which Indigenous people from around the world were brought to Europe and the United States, dehumanized, and exploited as entertainment for white audiences. They were treated as exotic beings and used to legitimize racist theories of white supremacy.

Klimt’s friend and fellow painter, Franz von Matsch, accompanied him to the zoo and later painted his version of the portrait. This other angle shows an almost frontal view, but the prince keeps his gaze away from the viewer. He used a similar palette, although he avoided the flora in the background.

Lost and Rediscovered

Many of Klimt’s patrons and collectors were wealthy Jewish families. Ernestine and Felix Klein acquired the painting in the 1920s and lent it to a retrospective exhibition about Klimt. Researchers still have information to uncover, but we can suppose it was part of the artworks looted by the Nazis in WWII.

Fans of shows like Pawn Stars know that most of the time, people present objects and artworks without much value, and rarely do they become actual masterpieces. Klimt’s paintings tend to be auctioned for millions of dollars, making them a target for falsifications. So, when a couple entered the Wienerroither & Kohlbacher gallery with this portrait in 2023, an incredulous assistant dismissed them. However, Klimt’s history with Jewish collectors means that his works are frequently rediscovered and returned to their rightful owners after restitution trials. Thankfully, other gallery staff decided to investigate it and contacted art historian Alfred Weidinger.

Thanks to the conservation efforts, the painting is ready to go back into the market. Today, the portrait is valued at more than 16 million dollars (15 million euros). Whomever acquires it will own a complicated and fascinating artwork.