$120 Klimt Art In LA

Five Gustav Klimt paintings stolen by the Nazis and ordered returned from Austria went on display in Los Angeles on Tuesday after a lengthy dispute highlighting the ownership complexities of the world's great art works. The paintings, valued at more than $120 million, include a famous golden portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, wife of the original owner of the work. They had been displayed at a Vienna museum since World War II after being seized by the Nazis when Germany annexed Austria in 1938. After a seven-year legal case, an arbitration court in January ordered the Austrian government to return the five paintings to Los Angeles resident Maria Altmann, the niece and heir of Bloch-Bauer, who fled Nazi-ruled Austria for the United States. Altmann, 90, originally wanted the paintings to remain in an Austrian museum but authorities said they could not afford to buy them back. For the full story - click the title Irish Art