Gustav Klimt and the Unknwon Prince

In October 2024, citizen astronomers suddenly saw a bright new star in Draco, a northern circumpolar constellation that coils between Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. GOTO0650, as it was unpoetically called, was observed with the aid of simple telescopes, then quickly confirmed by astronomers, becoming, arguably, the most talked about star of 2025. It’s quite rare, as well, to witness the reemergence of works by major artists whose oeuvre has been scrutinized by auction houses and art historians alike for more than a century. But such was the case this past spring, when a little-known work by Gustav Klimt was the star of TEFAF Maastricht. The work – a mesmerizing portrait, potentially of an African prince – pre-dates the chromatic and geometric exuberance of Klimt’s Secession-era paintings and the circumstances around its creation in late 1880s Vienna remain murky. Also unclear are the reasons the artist kept it all his life. In an in-depth contextual study, Sylvia Ferino-Pagden seeks to unravel the mystery.