Product Details
IMRE GOTH
HERMANN GOERING,
an important oil on canvas portrait of the Reichsmarschall, dated 1933.
Other Notes: This portrait was commissioned by Goering as a gift for an actress he was having an affair with in the late 1930s. This was the last in a series of portraits commissioned by Goering from Goth, the previous paintings having been of friends and in particular of his mistress who was the intended recipient of the present Lot. Despite being of Jewish parentage Goth and Goering were friends and shared a keen interest in flying (both having served as pilots during the Great War). The patronage ended with this portrait as Goering insisted on Goth changing the eyes as he claimed they betrayed his morphine addiction. Goth refused and escaped Germany via France and arrived in England shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.
Goth was born in Szeged, Hungary in March 1893. He served with Hungarian forces during the First World War but during his first leave from the Eastern Front he submitted paintings for the Franz Joseph scholarship and won. In 1920 he moved to Berlin where he studied in the Meister School at the Academy for five years. His fame as a portrait painter grew and he exhibited both nationally and internationally and had pictures published in magazines such as Die Dame, Sport im Bild, Die Woche and Jugend. On his arrival in England after his falling out with his patron Goering he was interned on the Isle of Man for a short while. He elected to settle in England and remained here until his death in London in March 1982. During the latter half of his life commissions for portraits continued with many famous people sitting for him. He also had paintings exhibited at the Royal Academy in London. He kept the portrait of Goering until his death.
Estimate £15,000-20,000