Klimt portrait sells for $236.4M, a record for modern art

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The majestic young woman draped in an imperial Chinese robe stands tall against a tapestry of soldiers, courtiers and celestial motifs. Now, “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer” by Viennese master Gustav Klimt has become a towering figure in the pantheon of art as the most expensive modern work to be sold at auction.

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The 71-by-51-inch painting, named after its subject, was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in New York on Tuesday evening for $236.4 million, including fees. It belonged to the private collection of Leonard Lauder, the cosmetics heir who died in June.

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A 19-minute bidding battle propelled the painting far beyond its $150 million estimate, with two bidders competing over the phone via their auction representatives.

The audience cheered when the price climbed to $200 million.

“Would you like to carry on?” auctioneer Oliver Barker asked one of the bidders. “Take your time. It’s worth it,” he added, as the auction representative referred back to his client for a moment.

“Don’t think this one comes up again,” said Barker, with mounting excitement.

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The representative raised his hand to gesture that his client was raising the bidding.

“$202 million,” Barker exclaimed. “Thank you very much indeed.”

A second phone bidder countered with $205 million.

“Is he going to carry on, sir, at $205 million?” Barker asked the representative for the other bidder.

The representative made a cutoff gesture with his hands before ending the call and placing his phone down.

“That’s the sure sign,” said Barker. The audience laughed and Barker brought out his hammer.

The all-in price is only second to Leonardo da Vinci’s long-lost painting “Salvator Mundi” (“Saviour of the World”), which shattered records in 2017 when it was sold for $450.3 million by Christie’s and remains the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction.

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The commissioned portrait, painted between 1914 and 1916, depicts Elisabeth Lederer, the daughter of Klimt’s patrons, Serena and August Lederer. Klimt’s portrait of Elisabeth shows the hallmark of his mature style, Robert Wellington, an associate professor of art history at the Australian National University, said in an email.

“It’s typical of Klimt’s play of shapes and colour that allows the eye to travel across the canvas. It places his sitter, Elisabeth, in an aesthetic sphere – it’s an otherworldly vision,” he said.

Elisabeth is clothed in a translucent Chinese-style robe, with the background extending the orientalist theme through chinoiserie figures, people and horses.

Confiscated by the Nazis during the Second World War, the painting survived, unlike other Klimt works from the family’s collection, which were destroyed in a fire, the auction house said.

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For the last 40 years, the work has been in Lauder’s collection.

Klimt was a key figure of the Austrian art nouveau movement, perhaps best known for his painting “The Kiss.” Other Klimt works have fetched enormous sums, too. Klimt’s portrait titled “Lady With a Fan” sold for $108.4 million in 2023, which at the time marked the highest price for an artwork sold in an auction in Europe.

“Klimt’s work is revered by the public for its beauty and decorative quality. It’s also exceptionally rare. This is one of only two such portraits by Klimt in private hands, making it a rare prize for collectors,” said Wellington.

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