Educational Media Reviews Online

Portrait of Wally is a brilliantly told heist story that pits several renowned art museums against the Bondi family and the U.S. Government over the ownership of Egon Schiele's famed painting of his mistress Wally Neuzil. The film begins in 1997 with a Schiele retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where a member of the Bondi family spots a painting on the wall that had been stolen from her great aunt, Lea Bondi, during the Nazi occupation of Austria in 1939. From this starting point, the film delves into a complex story of stolen art, paperwork cover ups and vested interests.

The film does an excellent job at exploring the complex set of laws and treaties that led to both the loss and the eventual return of the painting to the Bondi family. The U.S. Government was able to make a successful case that institutions are still accountable for reparations of artworks “lost” during WWII. In an afterwards, the documentary states that following the return of Wally, the Austrian government has properly returned hundreds of millions of dollars worth of art stolen during the Nazi era.

Legalities aside, the film also picks at the many morally grey areas involved in this case: Ronald Leopold’s initial purchase of the painting from the Austrian National Gallery; the museum community’s resistance to returning the painting to the Bondi’s; Ronald Lauder’s connections with both MOMA and the Commission for Art Recovery; and the Bondi’s eventual sale of the painting back to the Leopold Museum. A disquieting side of museum politics is revealed and may leave the audience questions their assumptions about the power these institutions are capable of wielding.

Portrait of Wally is highly recommended for general college level collections and especially those collections focusing on art history, Jewish studies and legal studies.