The painting Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer from the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt auctioned in New York for 236.4 million US dollars (about 204 million euros). This makes it the second most expensive work in art history ever sold at auction. Many interested parties engaged in a 20-minute bidding war. It is not yet known who ultimately won the contract.
Klimt’s drawings (1862–1918), created between 1914 and 1916, show the daughter of an industrialist couple who repeatedly supported the artist. The painter is one of the most important representatives of Viennese Art Nouveau. The previous auction record for a Klimt work was $108.8 million and was achieved in London in 2023.
That portrait Elisabeth Lederer was part of the collection of billionaire Leonard Lauder, who died in the summer, and Sotheby’s auction house also sold many other items for a total of 527.5 million dollars as part of its traditional fall auction.
In 2017, the most expensive work of art ever auctioned was a painting by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519). Mundi Saviorwhich sold at auction in New York for $450.3 million. That Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer it now tops a portrait of actress Marilyn Monroe by US artist Andy Warhol, which was auctioned in spring 2022 for an estimated $195 million.
