Apart from literature, Tesla had an eye for fine arts and admired talented artists. In January 1916, he agreed to pose for an extravagant Hungarian aristocrat living in the United States, princess Elisabeth Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. This portrait is now known as the “Blue Portrait”, a replica of which is kept in the Nikola Tesla Museum, and the original is a part of the Ludwig Nissen’s collection in Husum, Germany.

The name “Blue Portrait” originated from the fact that Tesla, who did not like the lighting in the princess’s studio, made his own light arrangement and decided to pose under the light of a lamp whose light passed through blue glass. Under the same lighting, Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy exhibited the portrait on March 1, 1916.

A photo of the “Blue Portrait” was first published in the “Electrical Experimenter” magazine in 1919. However, the portrait gained worldwide fame when a black-and-white photo was published on the cover of the famous “Time” magazine on the occasion of Tesla’s 75th birthday.