Piacenza, Klimt's Portrait of a Lady is back at the Ricci Oddi Gallery of Modern Art

As of Saturday, April 4, 2026, Gustav Klimt ’s Portrait of a Lady (1916-1917) is back on display in the halls of the Ricci Oddi Gallery of Modern Art in Piacenza, after having been on view until March 22, 2026 at the My Art Museum in Seoul, as part of the exhibition The Miracle of Klimt and Other Treasures from Galleria d’Arte Moderna Ricci Oddi, curated by Lucia Pini with the collaboration of Stefano Bosi.

The work, among the most relevant and representative of the collection, thus resumes its original location at a particularly significant moment for the Gallery, which from April 28, 2026 will show itself to the public in a renewed guise, at the end of a major redevelopment and refurbishment. The project, signed by Milan-based firm Lissoni & Partners and launched in spring 2025, involved more than 1,000 square meters of floor space and all 22 exhibition rooms, which remained accessible in rotation during the work, according to the progress of the construction site. Also during the Easter holidays, the Ricci Oddi Gallery of Modern Art is open to the public on Sunday, April 5, and Monday, April 6, with opening hours of 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Becoming part of Giuseppe Ricci Oddi ’s collection in 1925, following its purchase from Luigi Scopinich’s Gallery in Milan, Portrait of a Lady belongs to the last phase of Gustav Klimt’s (Vienna, 1862-1918) artistic production. In this period his painting abandoned the decorative richness typical of the golden phase, leaving room for a more spontaneous and expressive drafting, close to the sensibility of expressionism.

In 1996, thanks to the intuition of Claudia Maga, a student at a Piacenza high school, it was discovered that the painting had been made over a pre-existing canvas depicting another woman, identical in face and pose but different in clothing. The mystery surrounding the identity of the figure depicted, probably one of the models who posed for the famous Viennese artist, also remains unsolved. In recent years, the work has also returned to the spotlight because of the theft incident that occurred on Feb. 22, 1997, when it was taken from the Gallery under circumstances that have never been fully clarified. The painting was later found on Dec. 10, 2019, during some garden maintenance work along the museum’s outer wall, hidden inside a plastic bag.

“The return of Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of a Lady represents for us a moment of great emotion and deep significance,” said Lucia Pini, director of the Ricci Oddi Gallery of Modern Art. “After the important international experience at the My Art Museum in Seoul, the work finally returns to its home, ready to be shared with the public once again. This re-entry takes on even more symbolic value because it is part of a renewal phase for the Ricci Oddi Gallery, which is about to present itself with a new layout and an updated vision, in the name of enhancing the value of its extraordinary heritage. The Klimt, with its unique history and expressive power, thus returns to be one of the fulcrums of our museum itinerary.”

Piacenza, Klimt's Portrait of a Lady is back at the Ricci Oddi Gallery of Modern Art

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