Painting by Austrian painter Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was auctioned in New York for 236.4 million dollars (about 204 million euros) – making it the second most expensive work in art history ever sold at auction. The “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer” painting is also the most expensive Klimt work ever auctioned and the most expensive work ever auctioned in the company’s history, auction house Sotheby’s said. Many interested parties engaged in a 20-minute bidding war. Initially it was unknown who ultimately won the contract.
Since 2017, the most expensive work of art ever auctioned is the painting “Salvator Mundi” by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). New York auctioned for $450.3 million. “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer” now tops a portrait of actress Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) by US artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987), which was auctioned in spring 2022 for around 195 million dollars and has now slipped to third place.
Klimt’s paintings, 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.
The work “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer” was part of the collection of billionaire Leonard Lauder, who died in the summer, and the auction house is also selling many other works as part of its traditional fall auction. That’s the first one auction company at its new headquarters: the former Whitney Museum on Manhattan’s venerable Upper East Side, built in brutalist style by star architect Marcel Breuer (1902-1981), recently used temporarily by the Metropolitan and Frick Museum.
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