Klimt portrait sells for record $236.4M at auction

Gustav Klimt's six-foot portrait of a young Viennese heiress shattered records on Tuesday, selling for $236.4 million at Sotheby's New York and becoming the second-most expensive artwork ever sold at auction. The sale of "Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer" capped a nearly 20-minute bidding war and inaugurated the auction house's newly renovated headquarters in the historic Breuer building on Madison Avenue.theartnewspaper+4

The painting, which depicts the 20-year-old daughter of Jewish industrial magnate August Lederer dressed in a flowing Chinese dragon robe, fetched a hammer price of $205 million before fees. Six bidders competed for the work, with Julian Dawes, Sotheby's vice chairman and head of Impressionist and modern art, securing it on behalf of an unidentified client. The identity of the buyer was not disclosed.nytimes+4

Breaking Records and Making History

The sale surpassed Andy Warhol's "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn," which sold for $195 million at Christie's in 2022, to become the most valuable modern artwork ever sold at auction. Only Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi," which fetched $450.3 million at Christie's in 2017, commands a higher price. The painting also set a new auction record for Klimt, eclipsing "Lady with a Fan," which sold for £85.3 million ($108.4 million) at Sotheby's London in 2023.theartnewspaper+5

"Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer" was the star lot from the collection of Leonard Lauder, the cosmetics heir and philanthropist who died in June at age 92. Lauder acquired the painting in 1985 from dealer Serge Sabarsky and displayed it prominently in his Fifth Avenue home for nearly four decades. The work was part of a 54-piece collection estimated at over $400 million, with Sotheby's having guaranteed the entire consignment.nytimes+3

A Painting's Dark Past

Created between 1914 and 1916, the portrait depicts Elisabeth Lederer, whose parents August and Serena Lederer were Klimt's most important patrons. The family's close relationship with the artist proved crucial during the Nazi occupation of Austria. Elisabeth escaped persecution by claiming Klimt was her biological father, receiving a certificate establishing she was only "half-Jewish" while her two brothers were considered full Jews.theartnewspaper+4

The painting was seized by Nazis in 1939 and stored at Immendorf Castle in Lower Austria, where much of the Lederer collection was destroyed in a fire in 1945. "Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer" survived and was returned to the family in 1948. According to multiple sources, the work is one of only two full-length Klimt portraits of this scale remaining in private hands.nyculturebeat+5