Klimt painting becomes the second most expensive work of art ever sold at auction
The work, initially estimated at $150 million, depicts the daughter of Klimt's main patron dressed in a white Chinese imperial costume in front of a blue tapestry with Asian motifs.
Still from Sotheby's auction.
A portrait by Austrian painter Gustav Klimt fetched $236.4 million at auction on Tuesday in New York, becoming the second most expensive work ever sold at a public auction, AFP reported.
The piece, The Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer (1914-1916), was one of the most coveted at the auction organized by Sotheby's. Six buyers vied for the work for 20 minutes. The auction house, however, did not disclose the identity of the buyer.
The painting, initially estimated at $150 million, depicts the daughter of Klimt's main patron dressed in a white Chinese imperial costume in front of a blue tapestry with Asian motifs.
The absolute record at auction remains in the hands of Salvator Mundi, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, sold for $450 million in 2017.
As Sotheby's explained in a statement quoted by AFP, large full-length portraits from Klimt's most prominent period (1912-1917) are "extremely rare," as most belong to museum collections and only a few are in private hands.
Until now, Klimt's most expensive work at auction was Lady with Fan (1917-1918), sold for $108.8 million in 2023.
What are the most expensive works ever sold at public auction?
Also among the highest-priced are The Scream by Edvard Munch ($119.9 million) and an untitled piece by Jean-Michel Basquiat from 1982 that sold for $110.5 million, cementing these pieces as some of the most valuable in the history of the art market.
The sale comes against a backdrop of a 33.5% drop in global art auction volume in 2024 to $9.9 billion, its lowest level since 2009, according to Artprice data reviewed by the agency. The decline is attributed to both a complex economic environment and a dearth of high-value works on the market.
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