Study for the Portrait of Friederike Maria Beer-Monti

Friederike Maria Beer (1891–1980) was born in Vienna, where her mother was the manager of a well-known bar, the Kaiserbar. Between 1918 and 1920 Friederike was employed by the Galerie Nebehay to catalogue the drawings in Klimt’s estate. In the 1920s she married an Italian, Emanuele Monti. The couple made their home on Capri, where they ran a restaurant, the Kater Hiddigeigei, which was famously patronized by artists. Her marriage, however, proved to be of short duration, and in 1931 Beer-Monti moved to New York, where she opened the Artist’s Gallery. She remained in the United States until her death in 1980. At the time of the genesis of this painting, Friederike Maria was twenty-three and in the middle of an affair with the painter Hans Böhler. Böhler let her choose between a string of pearls and a portrait by Gustav Klimt as a Christmas present. Beer opted for the portrait.