Klimt Painting Becomes Second Most Expensive Artwork Ever Sold

"Gustav Klimt's 1914-16 portrait of Elisabeth Lederer sold for $236.4 million with fees during the first evening sale at Sotheby's new headquarters at the Breuer Building in New York tonight, November 18. Surpassing its $150 million estimate, the painting sold to a phone bidder with Julian Dawes, head of Impressionist and Modern Art, after a 20-minute bidding volley. Auctioneer Oliver Barker told a crowded saleroom it was the highest price ever paid for a modern artwork at auction."

""Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer" depicts the 20-year-old daughter of Jewish industrial magnate August Lederer and his wife Szerena, who were patrons of Klimt in Vienna. Lederer grew so close to Klimt, who died two years after completing her portrait, that she called him her "uncle" and later claimed he was her biological father to evade scrutiny when Vienna was under Nazi rule, according to Sotheby's."

Gustav Klimt's 1914–16 Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer fetched $236.4 million with fees at Sotheby's first evening sale at the Breuer Building in New York. The painting surpassed a $150 million estimate and sold to a phone bidder after a twenty-minute bidding volley involving Julian Dawes. The result marked the highest price ever paid for a modern artwork at auction and the second most expensive work sold on the public market. The portrait shows the twenty-year-old daughter of industrial magnate August Lederer and his wife Szerena, who were Klimt patrons in Vienna. The lot came from the Leonard A. Lauder collection, which included two other Klimt oils that sold for $86 million and $70.7 million. The sale also included Matisse sculptures and Agnes Martin paintings, and a pre-sale exhibition in New York drew around 25,000 visitors.

Read at Hyperallergic