A portrait painted by Austrian Gustav Klimt was sold for $236.4 million (204 million euros) by Sotheby’s on Tuesday in New York, becoming the second most expensive work ever sold at auction. The most expensive painting ever sold at auction was “Salvator Mundi”, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, selling for $450 million in 2017.
The most anticipated work of the evening, Gustav Klimt’s ‘Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer (Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer)’, just sold for $236.4 million.
It is now the most valuable work of modern art ever sold at auction. pic.twitter.com/hZFP1fC47l
— Sotheby’s (@Sothebys) November 18, 2025
Six buyers debated for 20 minutes over “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer” (1914-1916), estimated at $150 million, which depicts the daughter of the painter’s chief patron in a white Chinese imperial dress, in front of a blue tapestry with an Asian-inspired motif. Sotheby’s did not immediately reveal the name of the buyer.
Like “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer,” a large, full-length portrait created by Gustav Klimt during his key period (between 1912 and 1917) is “extremely rare,” Sotheby’s explained in a press release. Most are part of large museum collections, only a few are owned by private collectors.
For the Austrian artist, the previous auction record was held by “Lady with a Fan” (1917-1918), selling for 85.3 million pounds sterling (98.9 million euros and 108.8 million dollars) in London in 2023.
Several other works by the artist sold at the same auction on Tuesday, including “Meadow in Flower” (c. 1908) for $86 million (74.2 million euros) and “Forest Slope at Unterach am Attersee” (1916) for $68.3 million (58.9 million euros).
These paintings, as well as two studies for portraits that sold for $520,700 (449,550 euros) and $482,600 (416,650 euros), were part of the collection of Leonard A. Lauder, heir to the Estée Lauder cosmetics empire, who died in June at the age of 92.
Sold Thursday by Sotheby’s in New York, Frida Kahlo’s self-portrait is likely to become the most expensive painting by a woman. Estimated at between 40 and 60 million dollars, this 1940 painting entitled “The Dream (The Room)” depicts him sleeping in a bed overlooking a giant skeleton.
The most expensive painting by a female artist sold so far is American Georgia O’Keeffe’s 1932 work, which sold for $44.4 million in 2014. Frida Kahlo’s record was another 1949 self-portrait, “Diego and Me,” which sold for $34.4 million in New York.
