Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer: Why this mysterious Klimt painting sold for $236m | Gustav Klimt p…

Explore the latest developments concerning Portrait of Elisabeth.

Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer: Why this mysterious Klimt painting sold for $236m

Hidden for decades from public view, the artist's Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer has now sold at auction for a record sum. Why is it so valuable?

A mysterious and relatively little-known painting by Gustav Klimt is now the most expensive work of modern art ever to sell at auction and the most expensive ever to be sold by Sotheby's. The teasingly complex canvas, a full-length portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, the daughter of the Austrian artist's most committed patrons, fetched $236.4m (£180m) in New York on 18 November, far outpacing the price paid two years ago for Klimt's Lady with a Fan, 1917-18, which broke records when it sold for $108m (£82m) in London in 2023, making it the most expensive painting ever sold at auction in Europe.

Gustav Klimt portrait sells for $236.4m, making it the second most expensive artwork ever sold at auction

Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, which was looted by the Nazis and nearly destroyed in a fire during the second world war, sells at Sotheby’s auction

A painting by Gustav Klimt has sold for a record-breaking $236.4m (£179.7m, A$364m) with fees, making it the second most expensive artwork ever sold at auction and the most expensive work of modern art sold at auction.

The six-foot-tall painting, titled Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, was painted by the Austrian painter between 1914 and 1916 and shows Lederer, a young heiress and daughter of Klimt’s patrons, draped in a Chinese robe.

Six bidders battled for 20 minutes at the Sotheby’s auction on Tuesday night in New York. Sotheby’s declined to identify the successful buyer of the painting.

In major auction night, rare Klimt painting smashes records at $236.4 million

What do a notorious gold toilet and a nearly destroyed Klimt painting have in common? They christened Sotheby’s first sale out of its new US headquarters in New York on Tuesday evening in a buzzy, record-breaking night.

Early on, the headlining artwork by Gustav Klimt, “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer,” became the most valuable work of modern art to ever sell at auction, reaching $236.4 million to gasps and applause from the room during the 20-minute bidding war. It was also the most expensive work of art ever sold by Sotheby’s globally. The portrait of Klimt’s patrons’ young daughter, made in the last years of the artist’s life, was spared from destruction during World War II when it was separated from his works that later burned during a fire at Immendorf Castle in Austria.

For more detailed information, explore updates concerning Portrait of Elisabeth.

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