(Credits: Sotheby’s)
A Gustav Klimt painting has sold for $236.4 million, or £179.7 million, making it the second most expensive artwork ever sold at auction.
The picture has also become the most expensive work of modern art sold at auction.
The painting is titled Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer. It is six-foot-tall and depicts Lederer, a young heiress and daughter of Klimt’s patrons, adorned with a Chinese robe.
According to The Guardian, the painting was at the centre of a 20-minute-long battle. On the evening of November 18th, Sotheby’s in New York saw six bidders try to get their hands on the singular piece. Sotheby’s did not identify the successful buyer.
The famous painting has a tumultuous history. Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer it was painted by the Austrian painter between 1914 and 1916 looted by the Nazis.
It was then nearly destroyed in a fire during World War II, but in 1948, it was returned to Lederer’s brother Erich. Erich kept the magical piece in his possession for most of his life. Eventually, he sold it in 1983, two years before his death.
Two years later, the painting was subsumed into the private art collection of Estée Lauder heir Leonard A Lauder. The business mogul displayed it in his Fifth Avenue home in New York.
This sale sets a new record for the beloved artist. Previously, the highest-selling Klimt painting was set by Lady of a Fan, which was sold in 2023 for $108 million.
It is newly second only to the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction. This title is held by the Leonardo da Vinci painting Salvator Mundi. It sold in 2017 for an eye-watering $450 million.
In 2013, another Klimt painting fetched a high price at auction. A painting entitled Portrait of Fräulein Lieser resurfaced in 2012, over a century after it was painted. Originally, the portrait was a commissioned piece by the Lieser family.
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